The Crossover Series 1 - Sephiroth's sister
by Angelfire Blackwolf
Summary: *Written by Angelfire only* Meteor has fallen, but Reeve finds something that could change the Planet forever...
1. Prologue

**Sephiroth's Sister**

Prologue

Hojo looked at the two children in front of him in surprise; Lucrecia had given birth to twins instead of the single, male child he had expected.

"Hmmm, now what?" he mused to himself, "she agreed to this experiment because she only expected a male child… if she knew that this second one was female… she may decide to stop the experiment." He thought for a little longer about the possibilities of comparing the results of the two in the experiment. Then the idea came to him "I know.. I'll tell her that the girl died" he smiled and looked at the male child "Sleep well Sephiroth, we begin tomorrow." He turned to the girl "Sleep well Angel, you have a big day ahead of you…"

The next day Lucrecia died of mako poisoning and the effect of the Jenova cells combined, as she lay dying she called out for Sephiroth, unaware that Angel still lived.

********************* 

**_Eighteen years later_**

Steel crashed against steel as the swords of Sephiroth and Angel met, causing a shower of sparks to fly between the two combatants. Their faces were unreadable as they concentrated on trying to beat each other. They ignored everything around them, including the new recruits for the SOLDIER program, which they were demonstrating sword skills to. The recruits watched in mixed awe and fear as the fight became more and more violent.

"Ok you two, I think that's enough for now." Commander Omar commented as he moved towards the combatants. Sephiroth grinned at Angel as she winked. They finished the fight with a spectacular mid air leap, their swords struck and they both somersaulted, landing next to Omar.

"Show-offs" Omar muttered to the pair, then continued louder as he addressed the recruits "You have just seen a fight between our two finest SOLDIERS. With training you may achieve first class and become just as good … Sephiroth" he nodded to Sephiroth who stepped forward.

"As your training progresses both me and my sister with begin to train you. If you fail then you will join the ranks of the regular army."

Angel gave Sephiroth an amused look before continuing "However there's no need to worry if you do fail SOLDIER training, the regular army is the best trained you will find, and it's the envy of the world. You will still be accounted elite"

"Recruits dismissed till 1600 hours, " Omar shouted as Sephiroth and Angel walked back to the Shin-ra building. One of the recruits watched as they walked up the steps and he thought to himself about how similar the two looked. Apart from the obvious male-female difference the only two things that made them look different were their hair and eye colours. Sephiroth had silver hair and aqua green eyes whilst Angel had golden hair and sky blue eyes. The recruit shuddered as the two vanished into the building, and walked off.

The twins entered the elevator and waited for it to get to level 67.

"That went well" Sephiroth said as he watched the number on the elevator go up slowly "although I hate exhibition matches"

"I know, I prefer the real sparring matches, that was way too mild… I didn't even work up a sweat that time… and I hate giving speeches as well. I honestly don't think being first class is worth all this hassle, we're just used for shows"

Sephiroth grinned at his sister's comments on the easy fight "I agree about the last part, and the worst is yet to come. We get to bow and scrape to Hojo in five minutes."

Angel winced " I hate that man, he's weird, and I hate those injections he gives me"

"You're not the only one… anyway we're here" Sephiroth said as the elevator chimed the floor.

The doors opened to show Hojo waiting for them "I see that you're only just on time" he told them "Come, I must give you your weekly injections. You will be relieved to know that this is your last dose." Hojo put extra emphasis on relieved.

Sephiroth and Angel exchanged looks, they hadn't realised that Hojo knew their feelings on the subject. Hojo led them into the lad and picked up the needles.

"I really hate this" Angel muttered to herself as she watched Sephiroth being injected. He didn't show any reaction to the injections. Then her turn came, the first injection didn't have any reaction as usual, although she knew it would take effect later. The second one however was completely different; it left her with a severe headache and feeling ill.

A few minutes later, after Hojo had documented the effects down, both of them left the lab. "I'm going to my quarters to sleep this off," Angel said after fighting the urge to be sick.

"At least you only feel sick this time, I wonder why it doesn't affect me that way." Sephiroth said with a concerned look.

"Be thankful it doesn't" Angel smiled slightly. " I'll be ready to practice later, where will I find you?"

"In the gym, where else?" Sephiroth replied, "I'll be there for the rest of the afternoon. See you later" He walked off down the stairs as Angel waited for the elevator.

"Why me?" She muttered as she waited for the elevator, annoyed at the fact that Hojo had ruined a perfectly good afternoon with his injections. 

_*Go to Hojo's library* _

"What!?!" Angel looked around for the person who had spoken; she couldn't see anyone in the area. The voice she had heard was strange, and she couldn't recall anyone with a voice like that. " Sephiroth, if you're playing tricks, you'll be sorry!" She said to an empty corridor.

_*Go to Hojo's library*_ the voice insisted in her mind.

"Oh great.. I'm hearing voices" Angel muttered as she noticed that no one was nearby. "What does Hojo put in those injections?"

_* Go to the library and find out*_ the voice persisted.

"Alright, alright …. I'm going!" Angel muttered to the voice, wanting to stop hearing it and wondering if she was starting to crack up. She also noticed that the feeling of sickness had vanished, but she didn't have a clue why, it usually lasted a good few hours. At that moment the elevator doors opened and she walked in. Selecting the level above she waited for a short while.

"How can I get into Hojo's library" she wondered knowing that there was always someone on the second lab floor. A few seconds later the doors opened and she looked round, there was no one in the corridor which was not unusual. As she walked towards the door of the main lad she noticed that there was very little noise, which was unusual. Looking through the glass window of the door she could see that there were no lab staff there.

"Where is everyone?" she wondered as she entered the lab. The equipment was set up in a way that it looked like Hojo was starting another one of his weird experiments, but with no one around Angel wondered if they were in one of the other rooms discussing what they were about to do. She knew from experience that Hojo briefed his staff, however scantily, on what they were about to do next. She looked over to one of the doors, which housed the larger meeting room, and she noticed the 'do not disturb' sign on the door. Angel smiled, she had been right. Just before she reached the library door, the lift that directly connected the downstairs lab to this one started to move.

"Damn Hojo" she muttered as she hid behind a pile of lab equipment. Sure enough Hojo walked out of the lift and headed towards the meeting room. When she was certain he had gone, she moved to the library door and walked in. taking care to close the door silently.

Angel noticed that the library had no complex lock like she had expected, and realised that no one ever dared to cross Hojo and enter this library without his permission. When her momentary shock had worn off she began to look at the shelves that held the records of Hojo's experiments. As she browsed she noticed a word that caught her eye… Jenova.

"Strange, mother was called Jenova, or so Hojo told us. What's this about?" Angel wondered as she picked up the file titled the Jenova project. She opened the book carefully and began to read Hojo's spidery handwriting. As she read she found out what Jenova was, but the last page of the file she read in a state of shock.

_…"Lucrecia gave birth to twins, this was unexpected as all indications pointed to one child. The mother died of Mako poisoning which suited my plans to use both specimens and compare the results. During pregnancy Mako energy and Jenova cells were injected into the womb, however early tests indicate that the male specimen absorbed most of the Jenova cells and the female specimen absorbed most of the Mako. The cause of this is unknown, but further infusions should correct this."…_

Angel finished reading and closed the file slowly; unable to believe that both her and Sephiroth were the results of a genetic experiment. Then something occurred to her, in her wanderings through the personnel files a few weeks ago, she had come across a record of Hojo. At that time she had found the record of him having a wife amusing as she hadn't thought that Hojo would be the type of person that would get married, however his wife's name now leapt out at her, it had been Lucrecia.

"Hojo is our father?" Angel murmured after she had put two and two together from the evidence. Then in a state of fury she addressed the voice she had heard in her mind "Is this what you wanted me to see?" However there was no answer, leaving Angel to wonder if she was going slightly mad.

Not wanting to arouse Hojo's suspicion she put the file back where she had found it, when a second title caught her eye, Jenova project stage 2. "Another one?" She reached out to take it when a familiar voice behind her made her jump. 

"What are you doing?" Hojo asked in a tone that indicated he was far from pleased.

Angel turned round, still holding the second file "I thought that would be obvious. I know what I am Hojo and I know about the Jenova project!" She replied, silently cursing the fact that she hadn't being paying enough attention to her surroundings.

"What gives you the right to pry into my personal business?" Hojo demanded, getting more and more furious by the second.

"I have every right, Father, and Sephiroth has a right to know!" Angel retorted, her temper beginning to fray. She slammed the file down on the nearest table and stormed towards the door, intending to go straight to her brother, Hojo however moved to block her way. Angel drew her sword intending to use the Time materia on Hojo "Don't make me use magic to get you out of my way"

Hojo's eyes narrowed "I don't think you'd be so foolish to use your magic on me, and I think you know a little too much" he replied as he drew a gun out of his lab coat pocket and pointed it at her.

Angel knew there was no way she could dodge a bullet in this small room, nor could she outrun it. The only option she had was to stop Hojo literally, so she began casting the Stop spell.

Hojo was faster as he pulled the trigger.

********************* 

One day after the defeat of Sephiroth, a small meteorite, a remnant of the original Meteor struck part of the northern crater. The small meteorite had been blasted off Meteor when the Shin-ra 26 had collided with it, and it had survived being obliterated when the Lifestream aided Holy in destroying Meteor. The small piece had continued on with the original call of the Black Materia, but the resulting damage was too small to really harm the Planet. The small wound it caused soon had its own fountain of Lifestream energy healing the wound. However next to the fountain a hand moved towards the energy.


	2. Awakening

**Sephiroth's Sister**

Chapter 1 - Awakening

Two months after Midgar was more or less destroyed by Meteor, Reeve and a company of guards were looking through the ruins of the Shin-ra tower, looking through the records and the libraries that had survived the destruction.

"Here's one on the rocked program Reeve" one of the searchers called over.

"Cid'll love looking though that one" someone else commented from the other side of the room.

Reeve smiled "Knowing Cid, he probably wrote it"

"I've found a few files that survived from the floor above Reeve" a woman said as she entered the room "although we're lucky to have that… anything above that floor is impossible to get to."

"What sort of files Pauline?" Reeve asked 

"Hmm, lemme see" Pauline said as she looked through the files that she had in her arms " One on the Jenova project, One on the Nibelhiem incident, quite a few on the Cetra, and a few personnel files" 

"Who's files?" Reeve asked as he went back to work digging though the debris

"Scarlet, Rufus, Hojo, Sephiroth, a woman called Angel and one on yourself Reeve" Pauline smiled as she handed the files to him.

Reeve took the files from the woman and began to look through his own file "Well nothing interesting in this one" he said as he looked through the rest of the files. "Whoa. Sephiroth was more screwed up that I thought" he exclaimed as he looked through the Jenova project file. "There's some pages missing from this though"

"I noticed, I think they were moved before the library was destroyed though." Pauline commented.

"Hojo probably, keeping information to himself" Reeve agreed

. Pauline opened the one on Angel and showed him the picture "have you read this though" she said and began reading it to them.

_…"Angel, Twin sister to Sephiroth, graduated as first class SOLDIER at age 16 along with brother. Equal in skill and ability to Sephiroth. Disappeared at age 18 after trying to kill Shin-ra scientist Hojo. Presumed dead"…_

Reeve's eyebrows went up "Presumed?"

"Well I haven't seen or heard of anyone who looks remotely like Sephiroth" a man said

"That's what worries me" Reeve replied

"Hmmm, what's this?" Pauline mused as she picked up a small scrap of paper that had fallen out of the pile of files. She picked it up "This is interesting, Listen… Specimen A, female, cause of insanity unknown, frozen in cryo suspension in basement for further study into cause of insanity"

"I really don't like the sound of that" Reeve replied.

"You think it refers to Angel?"

"Yes, it's in Hojo's handwriting, and I don't believe in coincidence" Reeve stated. "Let's see if we can find a way into the basement levels" 

********************* 

In the basement of Shin-ra headquarters, a small thread of green energy snaked around a small cylindrical chamber. There was a hiss of escaping air as the chamber opened and Angel, who had been placed there many years ago, started to awaken. She slowly opened her eyes and sighed as she looked out into darkness. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light and slowly strength began to flood into her limbs. When she felt she could stand, she carefully climbed out of the chamber and went in search of a light switch of some kind. Instead of the light switch she tripped over her sword, back in its sheath and with all of the materia orbs still in their original places. As she cleaned the cobwebs off the weapon she began to wonder at how long she had been asleep. As her eyes continued to adjust to the absence of light she noticed the run down appearance of the room and the chunks of material that had fallen from the ceiling. "This isn't good" She muttered to herself wondering what had been going on. After her weapon had been cleaned, she continued her original quest, to find a light switch. When she eventually found one however she found that there was no power.

_*Go North*_

"Oh great, you again!" Angel wasn't happy, she knew that the voice was the same one that had got her into this mess in the first place, but she also knew that not doing what it asked of her was an open invitation for it to annoy her until she agreed. Once she found the door she discovered that there was no power to open it, so she forced it open and stepped out into the corridor, avoiding the fallen debris. Whilst she was trying to figure out where she was, she saw flashlights coming down the stairs at the other end of the corridor. Knowing that running would get her caught by them she hid behind a fallen ceiling panel. Unless one of them moved it they wouldn't see her, she didn't want Hojo or his flunkies to find her once they discovered that she was awake.

"Are you sure it's this way Reeve?"

"Yes, we've checked the rest of this floor; this is the only place we haven't checked yet"

Angel listened as the man dressed as a Shin-ra executive walked past, she assumed this one was Reeve. She also noticed the contingent of guards, she only counted ten of them, but she was certain there would be others at the top of the stairs. Knowing that there was another way out of this level, into the sewer and subway network, Angel carefully began to edge away from the group of people. She was thankful that her black SOLDIER uniform hid her in the gloom as she managed to make it to the far end of the corridor. To her left was the way to her escape route and she was about to turn down the second corridor when she was caught in a flashlight beam.

"Reeve, it's her!" Angel heard a woman yell as she turned to see all the people pile out of the room and aim guns at her. She sighed, cursed that her luck was always so bad and bolted for the way out.

As Reeve and his guards reached the place where Angel had been spotted they found that she had vanished.

"I didn't imagine her did I?" Reeve asked, getting no as a universal answer. "Great, just great… we have insane lunatic number 2 on the loose, anyone have any idea how long she's been awake?"

"From what I saw on the cryo tube, she woke about twenty minutes ago and if this place was still powered, she'd probably still be asleep" A technician said.

Reeve looked at the technician "You're kidding?" then he sighed "all things have two edges to them, Shutting down the Mako reactors was the only way we could continue the survival of the planet. I'm gonna contact Cloud, maybe Avalanche can help us track her down." 

********************* 

High in Cosmo Canyon's observatory Red XIII, otherwise known as Nanaki, watched the image of the planet in his grandfather's machine. He noticed a strange jump in Lifestream activity near Midgar and the North crater.

"Strange, wonder what this means" he wondered as he closed down the hologram. Still thinking he walked out of the observatory. From his high vantage point he could see most of the canyon below him and the trail leading from both Nibelhiem and Gongaga to Cosmo Canyon. Red's eyes were drawn however to the Cosmo Candle, the bonfire that burned perpetually within the Canyon, but he wasn't watching the fire, two familiar figures were sitting near the Candle. Red smiled and decided he would ask his friends for advice on this recent development.

Down in the canyon, Cloud and Tifa sat next to each other as they looked into the Candle. As Red approached they stopped talking to look at him. "What're you talking about Cloud?" Red asked curiously.

"We were talking about weddings" Tifa said, noticing Cloud blush.

"Weddings? Who's?" Red asked, slightly puzzled over Cloud's reaction.

"Curiosity killed the cat" Cloud muttered then added "mine and Tifa's" when Red gave him a strange look.

"About time you two, we've all been wondering when you'd get round to asking each other" Red said with a hint of amusement. "We were beginning to lose hope" He began to walk away, not wanting to disturb his friends with his news about the Lifestream.

"Red, I can't imagine you'd come all the way down here, just to hear the latest gossip. Out with it, something's bothering you" Cloud said.

Red winced "I should've known I would be that obvious, well to tell the truth, I don't really know. There were two fluctuations in the Lifestream earlier, near Midgar and the North Crater, Normally I wouldn't bother, but with what happened two months ago well…." He stopped and looked at his friends. "And I honestly didn't want to disturb your plans."

"That's alright Red, what're friends for?" Tifa said giving Red a gentle hug, reassuring him

Cloud thought for a while "There's probably a simple explanation for all this Red, the Lifestream might not have settled yet." He was about to comment further when his PHS started ringing. "I'm gonna start keeping this thing switched off" he muttered as he accepted the call. "Cloud here"

"Cloud, it's Reeve, we have a big problem" 

Cloud pressed the button on the PHS which would allow his friends to hear what was said by Reeve "What sort of problem Reeve?" he asked. The other two listened as Reeve detailed what he had discovered in Shin-ra HQ, and the encounter in the basement.

"And as you can guess, this could restart the planet crisis" Reeve finished.

"I'd like to know why she went after Hojo" Tifa said thoughtfully.

"We'll ask her once we catch her, if she's anything like Sephiroth she'll boast about it" Reeve said.

"Here we go again. I'll go to Corel and get Barret, he doesn't have a PHS." Red said as he started to walk towards the entrance to Cosmo Canyon. "I think this may have been the cause of the disturbance I found" With that Red bolted out of the Canyon at top speed.

"Ok, Reeve, can you get into contact with Yuffie and Vincent. I'll contact Cid to pick up in the Highwind" 

********************* 

Angel stood on a cliff overlooking Midgar, she couldn't believe that the city had been destroyed. What appalled her even more was the fact that she had seen dead bodies all the way throughout the city as she had made her way out. This told her that it had happened recently and suddenly. She didn't have a clue what had caused it, but her estimated guess at loss of life appalled her. This made her want to know how long she had slept and what had gone on. These were two of her most pressing questions that she needed answers to. The third question however, she didn't have a clue on. How was she supposed to get to the Northern continent without a boat, and where could she get one. Junon was too far away, through very dangerous country, not to mention that Junon was Shin-ra controlled and she couldn't swim that distance either.

Angel turned away from the ruined city and began to walk down the steep slope, halfway down she noticed movement some distance away from her and the city. As she got closer she found that the people she had seen were ordinary civilians, and, not being well known outside the Shin-ra complex along with the fact that she had probably been accounted as dead for some years, meant that she wouldn't cause alarm if she approached them. To make sure that she didn't cause the people any alarm she changed her sword into a staff, something she had learnt to do by accident when she was first trained in weapon combat.

"Pardon me, but could you help me?" she asked the nearest person. The person she asked turned round and Angel could see that it was a man in his late twenties. 

He eyed her suspiciously "What with?"

"I need to get to the Northern continent, but with no boats going there…" She trailed off, hoping that the man got the general idea.

"Where've you been the last few months? They've started to breed gold chocobos out at the ranch… they can walk across oceans. You should ask the owners if you could rent one"

"Where is the Ranch? I've only just got out of Midgar, and I've never left there before in my life."

"You haven't eh? You were lucky then.. getting out after that disaster…" the man said in sympathy, then he gave Angel the route to the ranch and also the prices of hiring out the chocobos. She was mildly dismayed at the price of hiring the birds and thanked the man. She left the group while later, when they were in sight of Kalm, and turned to the south, intent on borrowing a gold chocobo. 

********************* 

Cid wondered why Cloud had called him and asked him to pick up Yuffie and Vincent. He looked out through the main window as the Highwind headed towards Cosmo Canyon. With the airships speed it would only take a few minutes. He looked at Vincent "You have any idea why Cloud called us?"

Vincent considered for a second and shook his head "No, Reeve sounded.. worried, I guess Cloud will tell us when we're all together. It saves time."

"Damn, I hate not knowing" Cid muttered "has Yuffie got any ideas?"

"Nope" came Yuffie's familiar voice from the entrance to the Highwind's bridge, she didn't look very well.

"Airsickness again? You'd better not mess up my beautiful ship" Cid started on Yuffie.

"Not my fault, if you don't fly this ship steadily…"

Vincent ignored the arguing and walked over to the large window and looked out, he could see the Canyon spread out below him. In the distance he could make out a small dust cloud, and as he looked he started to make out the figures of Red and Barret, who was riding one of the gold chocobos that they had managed to raise. "Apart from Reeve, it looks like everyone will be at Cosmo Canyon" he said, cutting through the argument.

"Huh? What'cha talkin' about?" Cid asked as he walked over to the window.

"We know that Cloud, Tifa and Red are at Cosmo, and Barret's heading this way now." Vincent replied calmly and pointed to the chocobo below.

"Smartarse!" Cid replied as he directed the Highwind to land. "I'll be in the briefing room" he told the pilot. "When everyone's aboard, head for Midgar."

"Aye sir"

Cid picked up the Venus Gospel and followed Vincent to the lower part of the airship. Yuffie was waiting for them, sitting in one of the high backed seats. As Cid sat down, Barret walked in, followed by Red. Cloud and Tifa came in last, both looking very worried.

"So, why'd ya drag us all the way out here?" Yuffie asked, glaring at Cloud "I was.."

"Yuffie, we don't have time for bickering and complaints" Cloud interrupted "We have serious problems. Reeve found a woman in the Shin-ra building, she is the twin sister of Sephiroth, and she's running loose." He waited for everyone to digest that fact, and noticed looks of astonishment and worry on the faces of his team mates. "We have to stop her completing Sephiroth's mission."

Vincent looked thoughtful "That's if her mission is the same as Sephiroth's was. I heard that Sephiroth's sister died at birth, that was one of the reason's I went berserk at Hojo."

Everyone turned to stare at Vincent "What?" Cloud started in shock, "Hojo lied about her surviving?"

"Hojo probably had his reasons" Cid commented "That sicko would justify anything"

Barret, for once, kept his temper under control "No matter what, we still have to find her an' stop her from causin' havoc"

"I agree Barret, no matter the circumstances" Cloud concluded "Reeve will meet us at Midgar to give us the full information about her, and her capabilities. He won't be coming with us"

"Good, I don't trust that spy"

Tifa glared at Barret "Barret, Reeve is on our side, he can't come because Cait Sith was almost destroyed two months ago, he hasn't had time to fix it. Reeve didn't think it was important either."

"Well if you go crazy again, count me out" Yuffie said, looking at Cloud.

"Yuffie, that was Sephiroth controlling me, I was supposed to be a clone of Sephiroth, not his sister" Cloud replied.

"And if he does, I'll set his spiky ass straight!" Barret added.

"I'm not sure if I should find that comforting or not" Cloud replied before turning to Cid "Ok Cid, lets get to Midgar!" 

********************* 

Outside the chocobo ranch, Angel sat on a small hill, watching the chocobos that were in the pens. She counted the colour distributions and discovered that there were far more of the normal chocobos than there were of all the other kinds combined. She watched carefully as the workers fed the chocobos and then went back inside to get something to eat. If she calculated this right, then she would only have a couple of minutes to get one of the gold chocobos, and they would be instantly missed, there were only three of them.

She had already written the note, that she would leave the owners, which stated that she would return the chocobo when her urgent business to the north was finished, and she would also pay them for the inconvenience, when she had the funds. Angel hoped that this would be enough to reassure the owner.

Silently, she made her way to the chocobo pens and let herself into the enclosure where the gold chocobos were. Taking out a green that she had dug out of the ground a while earlier, she held it out to the nearest gold. The chocobo sensing that she wasn't going to hurt it allowed her to get on it's back and ride it out of the pen. 

Angel closed the gate as silently as she had entered and left the note on it. Then without a backwards glance, she pushed the chocobo to run and steered it northwards.


	3. Resurrection

**

Sephiroth's sister 

**

Chapter 2 - Resurrection

Reeve waited patiently for the Highwind to land. He had the file on Angel with him, which detailed her fighting skills, which beyond telling him that she was dangerous, he didn't have a clue about what half of it meant.

"Reeve, climb up!" Tifa shouted down as the Highwind landed. "We'll meet on deck, it's faster!"

"Alright" Reeve replied as he began climbing the rope ladder. Once he was on the deck he began talking "We last saw Angel heading out of the Shin-ra building. She went through sector 4, but we lost her. This indicates that she could be going south, but I think that was a ploy, however we can't be certain. She may be trying to re-enact Sephiroth's journey. I've found these files, but all I can tell you is that she's just as dangerous as Sephiroth was, perhaps more so."

"Why do you think that Reeve?" Red asked

"Well, when she finds out who killed her brother, then she may want revenge on all of us personally. We all know how powerful revenge is" Reeve said.

"Do you have any pictures of her?" Vincent asked curiously.

"Sure" Reeve pulled out a small picture of Angel and passed it to him "Remarkable how similar they look isn't it?"

"You can say that again" Barret looked at the picture "There's hardly no difference"

"Thanks Reeve, we'll deal with this once we figure out which way she went. Where will we find you?" Cloud asked

"In Kalm. I have to take these files back then I'll join up with you later." Reeve said as he climbed back down the ladder.

Once Reeve was safely back on the ground, the Highwind took off again.

"Now what?" Cid asked. "We've no direction to go in."

Yuffie who had been listening whilst she looked out over the landscape, remembered the glint of a gold chocobo in the distance, but she hadn't said anything because she wasn't sure if she had actually seen it. She was about to say this to Cloud when his PHS rang.

"Damn it, now what?" Cloud wondered as he accepted the call.

"It's Billy, from the ranch, your Swift has been stolen, someone calling themselves Angel."

"WHAT!" Cloud almost yelled down the phone "Was anyone hurt?"

"No why? The chocobo was taken and a note left" Came the reply from Billy and he read the note to Cloud.

"Ok Billy, we'll recover the chocobo, I'm on the Highwind now." Cloud said as he switched the PHS off. He looked at the others. "She's heading to Bone Village, on my gold chocobo."

"Cloud, I was about to say I'd seen a gold chocobo a few minutes ago, when Reeve was climbing up here. " Yuffie said

"Why didn't you say so in the firs' place?" Barret told her, we could've caught her sooner"

Cloud sighed. "Ok lets move out and get her" The Highwind's jets fired as it headed North. 

********************* 

Angel dismounted from the chocobo, and left it in a small pen inside the village. One villager watched her in suspicion.

"What're you doin'?" he asked her.

Angel turned to look at the man, "I'm just leaving this chocobo here and I'll retrieve it later when I return. Please, could you take care of it for me?"

The suspicion vanished and the man nodded, "Sure, where're you headed?"

"The city of the Cetra, I was told it's somewhere near here"

"You mean ancients? Sure, it's near here, but lemme give you a warnin'. A couple of months ago a young woman was killed there, the place reeks of the deed."

"Killed? Who by?" Angel asked, slightly worried.

"Dunno, the people who came through chased her murderer though, they were friends of hers" came the reply.

"I'll keep an eye out then, thanks for the warning. Which way is the city."

"Through the sleeping forest, you need the lunar harp to wake it, and that group, called Avalanche has it"

Angel thought for a few moments "I think I can pass through, I don't know why, but I have a feeling that the forest will let me"

"Well be careful then" the man said as he turned to care for the chocobo. Angel nodded and started to head to the path that would lead her to the forest. As she went through the main part of the village she noticed the looks of slight fear, and wondered what could have caused it. She knew that it had to have some root in what had taken place in the last few months, and now more than ever she wanted to know the truth. 

********************* 

On the Highwind all the members of Avalanche were sitting in the briefing room.

" How come I was not told by Lucrecia?, she would have known that she was going to have twins" Vincent asked.

" Unless Hojo kept it a secret for some reason" Cloud replied.

"Probably to allow her to be used in the Jenova Project. You know what Hojo was like, he was unscrupulous when it came to human feelings." Red said. "If I was to guess though, she's the female version of Sephiroth, she would've been an excellent study for him to observe if gender made a difference. I've been looking though some of the notes left at Nibelhime" he added when he got surprised looks from Barret and Yuffie.

" If Hojo was still alive I'd" Vincent broke of the sentence in barely suppressed anger.

"What I don't get is why she tried to kill Hojo, I mean even Sephiroth didn't go crazy til' he read the stuff in the mansion" Yuffie added.

Cloud shrugged " No idea"

Tifa who was polishing her Premium Heart gloves looked up " She's the only woman ever to survive SOLDIER training, who knows what it did to her, it could've made her more unstable than Sephiroth"

At that moment one of the crew walked into the room, "We're almost at Bone village Sir" he said, saluting Cid.

"Thanks, now lets see if she came here…." Cid said as he got up and walked out. 

Cloud nodded "Alright, lets go." He agreed, as everyone else started to get their weapons and materia ready.

The Highwind landed just outside the village, and as startled villagers watched, the fully armed Avalanche climbed down the ladder. Once they all climbed down they began to walk towards the path that would take them to the Sleeping Forest. Tifa held the lunar harp under her arm ready to use it once they got into the forest. 

" Well I would say that she definitely came through here" Red said, startling the group suddenly.

"How'd you guess that?" Barret asked looking at Red.

"Simple, Swift is over there" Came the reply, as Red indicated the gold chocobo.

Cloud walked over to the small crowd of villagers that had assembled. " Excuse me but did you see where the young lady riding that chocobo went?" he asked politely.

"Sure she walked up that path to the Sleeping Forest, she said something about needing to go there, and not needing the harp" the man that had talked to Angel earlier replied "She seemed a nice enough sort, there's nothing bad going on again is there?" he turned away from caring for the chocobo.

"She's Sephiroth's sister, the sister of the man that murdered Aeris in the City" Cloud replied truthfully "We're going to stop her carrying out her brother's plans"

"You're kidding me?" The man replied.

"Er .. Cloud, we're not sure WHAT her purpose is yet. We haven't even met her" Vincent interrupted, then he added "but we'll find out and if it is malevolent we'll stop her."

"Ah… alright, just be careful, there's been reports of dangerous creatures on that path, more than what there was when you last came through here." The man said turning back to care for the chocobo.

As Avalanche walked away Yuffie looked at the village and commented "Ya know, it's strange but there's no-one scared. I talked to some of them and they all agree that she just walked into the forest without doing anything."

Barret looked at Yuffie "So ya's sayin' that she isn't dangerous? That's crazy! She's the sister of that $@%*& Sephiroth"

"Barret, calm down. We'll ask her when we catch her" Tifa said, calming Barrat down.

"Tifa, can you wake the forest up? Otherwise we'll get lost in here for good" Cloud asked, as he leaned against a tree.

"Sure" Came the reply as she played the harp. The eerie tune echoed around them and seemed to flow with life. As the tune continued the forest seemed to become less unfriendly and more welcoming to the people who had entered it. Once Tifa had finished the tune she put the harp back in it's case and put it on her back, where it wouldn't be damaged if she got into a fight.

"I wonder how Angel got through here without the harp?" Cid wondered.

"Same way Sephiroth did, I'd guess," Tifa said, as she walked through the forest beside Cloud. "Although that's puzzled me for quite a while now, Aeris didn't need the Harp either"

"Aeris was Cetra, so the Forest would let her pass anyway" Red answered from behind her "And as for Sephiroth, and Angel.. well I can only speculate that it's because of either the Jenova cells or the Mako"

As they made their way though the forest they could see the dead bodies of some creatures that had been killed not so long ago. They all looked like they had been killed by a longsword, and high powered magic. The creatures were also some of the more dangerous ones that Avalanche had encountered when Jenova was in control of the Northen Crater.

"I don't like the look of this" Cid said, lighting a cigarette.

"Angel?" Yuffie asked?

"Probably" Vincent replied "What I don't like is that these creatures are prowling round near inhabited areas."

"I agree, how long ago do you think she came through here?" Barret asked

"About half an hour would be my guess." Red sniffed the bodies. "it wasn't that long ago, we should catch up to her in the City."

Tifa looked round, on alert, in case there were other creatures in the area. She saw something move out the corner of her eye. "Incoming guys,"

Cloud turned round, his sword coming out of it's sheath so fast that it looked like a blur. To their left a group of malboros and a blue dragon were heading their way.

"Just what we need…" 

********************* 

_*Come to the waterfall *_ Angel heard a voice tell her as she entered the Ancient City. In front of her she saw three different paths, but she felt the 'voice' urging her along the left hand path. As she walked along this path she noticed the run down nature of the town, she could see that the shell buildings were eroded by time and what looked to be decay. She imagined what it must have looked like before it was abandoned.

Angel had heard about this place, when she was younger. Hojo had been ranting about not being able to get to it because the forest wouldn't let anyone pass through it and no plane could land near it because the ground was too uneven. Once she got to the cave she looked round, and saw a cascade of water which flowed around a platform high up in the building. She was impressed by how it had been done. She walked round the crumbling path and onto the narrow path that led to the cascade. As she got closer she could see that there was a jewel on the platform, which was glowing and as she got even closer she could see that the jewel was projecting an image onto the waters surface. As she watched Angel saw the image of a young woman praying to something. She could see her look up as a man approached her, and saw the smile. Then Angel watched in horror as a person she recognised leapt down from a high perch and impaled the woman with his sword. Angel couldn't believe that her brother would murder someone who seemed so innocent, in front of the woman's friend. Then she saw a small greenish white materia orb that had been in the woman's hair, bounce down some steps and fall into some deep water. She saw the orb resting on the bottom of the body of water, glowing green, then glowing for a short while, until it calmed then returned to a pure white in colour

. _*Find the materia and use it *_ the voice told her_ * Only then will you know the truth of what your brother did*_

As Angel walked back to the fork in the road, she pondered what she had seen. Did Sephiroth have a good reason for killing the woman, or was he the one in the wrong. She wondered, not for the first time, if the voice in her head was a product of madness or a real voice. She didn't know if she was going insane or not.

As she got to the fork she wondered if she should just forget all this and go find out what had happened by asking people, but the voice had told her that she would know the truth if she did this, so she headed down the middle path. Angel was almost at the central building when she heard voices behind her. As she turned round she could see a group of seven people running towards her, with drawn weapons.

"There she is!" Cloud yelled pointing at Angel. They had managed to fight their way through to the Ancient City, and it was just their luck that they saw Angel before she vanished from view.

Angel watched the people for a few seconds, noticing that one of them had mako eyes, like hers, and that he was the one she had seen in the waterfall images, until the voice yelled in her mind_ * Run, they do not understand what you must do! *_

Angel looked startled for a second before she turned and bolted into the building. Once she entered the building she ran up the ramp until she came to a shimmering crystal staircase. She began to run down the stairs, but realised that she would never be able to reach the bottom and retrieve the materia without them catching up with her. She spread her arms and dived off the staircase aiming to dive into the water near the altar. She felt the air scream past her then she hit the icy water.

As she hit the water, Cloud reached the spot where she had dived from, Red by his side. The others weren't that far behind him.

"Where'd she go?" Red asked? "Her scent ends here.."

Everyone looked up to see if she was in mid air, a trick that Sephiroth performed frequently, but they saw no trace of her. Yuffie however was looking round and saw movement below them.

"Hey look!" Yuffie said pointing to the water. Angel had resurfaced and was swimming towards the bottom pillar.

"Hell, she must've jumped from here to get there that fast.." Tifa said, then noticed that she had something "what's that?"

"Materia" Yuffie said, knowingly 

"Trust you to recognise that.. what type, can you see?" Cid replied

"OH GAWD!…. She has HOLY!" Yuffie gasped in shock.

"What!?!?" Red looked worried " Cloud, we have to stop her, Holy has the power to resurrect people, and the only person she would have any cause to bring back is Sephiroth!"

"You're jokin'???" Barret aimed his gun arm at her but stopped because he knew she was well out of range.

"Red c'mon, you're the only one who can keep up with me and Vincent!" Cloud said as he took off running down the stairs. Vincent and Red followed keeping pace with him. Cid, Barret, Yuffie and Tifa also began running, but being slower they soon fell behind. Angel had now climbed out of the water and was heading up the pillars to the Altar. As Cloud, Red and Vincent got to the bottom of the stairs Angel had reached her destination and was kneeling, in an unconscious imitation of Aeris. 

"Only one of us can get up there at a time, I'll go first. Vincent you back me up with that gun" Cloud said as he began jumping from pillar to pillar. Once Cloud reached the altar he could see that Angel's back was to him, and she was an easy target. He raised his sword and brought it down with all his power, knowing that he was about to kill her to protect the planet, but the sword never hit. Angel turned, drew her sword with lightning speed and deflected the blow that was meant to kill her. She stood up, her blue eyes meeting Clouds and Cloud noticed that unlike Sephiroth, she was not insane. That made him afraid, because though his insanity, Sephiroth thought that Cloud and Avalanche couldn't harm him, Angel was another matter, she'd kill him easily.

Cloud moved into a better position to fight, unaware that the rest of his friends had reached the bottom of the stairs and were watching in horror. Vincent was already making his way towards him, intending to help.

Cloud began an attack sequence, but that was easily deflected and Angel began her own attack, one that Cloud couldn't block, she was too fast and strong. Cloud looked at Angel, knowing that the final strike would kill him, but the expected blow, that would have killed him, didn't. Halfway through the final swing Angel had changed the sword to a staff and sent Cloud flying off the altar platform directly into Vincent knocking them both towards the water.

"CLOUD! Vincent!!!" Tifa screamed, worried that the blow would have killed Cloud and the fall would kill Vincent. However their fall was halted and Vincent felt himself floating towards where Tifa and the others were. The unconscious form of Cloud was also floating to the ground nearby. Tifa ran to Cloud's side as he began to regain consciousness, and started to use healing spells to get him back up.

"What the?" Cid looked at Angel and noticed the intense concentration on her face, he realised that it was her that made them levitate.

Barret on the other hand didn't notice and began firing his gunarm at her. Before the bullets hit her a barrier sprang into existence, but not before both Red and Cid noticed her concern over Vincent and Cloud. Tifa and Yuffie helped the two men up, and turned to look at the shimmering barrier that had just appeared. Angel looked at the group for about a minute making sure that she hadn't injured any of them before turning back to the altar. She lifted the materia and called out a single word in a strange language.

"No, it can't be!!!" Red exclaimed in horror, as the others looked at him he elaborated "She's using Holy to call back someone from the dead. That word is one of few I know, it means return to life in the Ancient language.!"

"Oh $^*@" Barret and Cid swore.

"Damn, she must be calling Sephiroth back, get ready!!" Cloud said, although his head still throbbed from the blow Angel had given him, he was ready to battle. The rest of the group got ready as the Holy materia began to glow a blinding white light.

The light intensified until it filled the entire area, and once it faded and everyone's eyes had adjusted, two figures could be seen on the altar. 


	4. Revelations

**

Sephiroth's sister

**

Chapter 3 - Revelations

_* It is time, use the Materia now *_ the voice told Angel. She sighed and turned away from the barrier she had created. She hadn't a clue what to do and the voice in her head was silent, even asking it what she was doing didn't get a response apart from the same command of use the materia. Opening her mind Angel raised the materia and called upon its power. Then without warning the materia in her hand grew warm and emitted a blinding glow, which enveloped her. The history of the Ancients, their ways and their language slammed into her mind. The meaning of what she had seen in the waterfall became clear as the materia showed her exactly what had occurred during the time she had been in suspension. Finally, she understood what she was here to do and how to do it. 

Angel called out the command word to activate the magic and she saw the light grow even more blinding. When the light faded she saw the person who she had called back from the dead before her and leaning on her staff slightly Angel extended her hand towards the figure. 

Behind them Yuffie exclaimed in shock and surprise " Oh my GAWD . . . . Aeris"

On the altar Aeris smiled at Angel and shook her hand, she was wearing the same dress that she had before she was killed and carried her weapon - the Princess Guard staff at her side. As Aeris heard her name called, she looked round to see all her friends standing at the bottom of the pillars.

"Yuffie? Cloud? Tifa? You're all here? How?" Aeris asked slightly shocked.

"They followed me, I think they thought I meant harm to the planet" Angel told her looking directly at Cloud. 

" I'm sorry I didn't tell you all what I had planned before running off" Aeris said walking down towards the group, "I thought you'd all stop me. I knew the only way for Meteor to be stopped was Holy, and for that I had to die" 

Angel felt uneasy, she didn't know how, but she felt something evil above her, and she could sense the intent of the evil it had something to do with Aeris as she watched the woman head down to her friends, she only had a second to react.

Cloud eyes narrowed suspiciously at Angel when he saw the staff, which had knocked him out minutes ago, shimmer and return to sword form. He could not believe that his foes' sister had brought back their friend and he was not sure that her intentions were good. His thoughts seemed justified when, in a movement almost to fast for him to follow, Angel pushed Aeris away from the altar and raised her sword. Cloud was about to rush in to help Aeris, but another person had landed behind the two women and Angel's sword prevented the long sword impaling the last Cetra.

Angel backed away as Sephiroth rose from the position he landed in. "Aeris, go to your friends, I'll cover you" she said without taking her eyes off her brother. Sephiroth lunged at Aeris intending to kill but was blocked by his sisters' sword. 

On the platform below, Cloud ran over to Aeris when she had climbed down the last pillar. "What the hell is going on" he asked. 

Aeris shook her head and turned to watch the battle above "I don't know" she answered " Sephiroth should be dead, you killed him didn't you?"

"Yes, we did" Red replied "Holy and the lifestream came.. but how can he still be alive? Did he get called back as well?"

"Doubtful, Holy can only call back one person at a time, and it must be where the person died" Aeris said as she watched what was going on above them.

Angel defended against her brother, as Sephiroth seemed intent on slicing her in half, Avalanche watched as in horror as they didn't know if Angel could stop him. Then in what seemed to be a slip Angel took the offensive and seemed to gain the upper hand against Sephiroth. Sparks flew from the blades and after a while of hacking at each other, magic started to enter the fight. However no matter what they did the other deflected the magical attacks creating the stalemate again. Both of them seemed to be a match for each other as they knew each other's fighting styles and neither could gain the upper hand. Then Sephiroth jumped off the altar and glided over to where Avalanche were, as he did they all got ready to attack him, as Angel cast ultima. Sephiroth avoided the spell and glared at his sister.

"That was a mistake sis" he said and pointed his sword at Avalanche "Heartless Angel!" he called as he cast his most powerful limit spell, to drain and severely injure the party, only Angel was outside the influence of the spell. However Aeris, seeing Angel signal her, cast her most powerful limit, Great gospel to protect the group as Sephiroth finished his spell.

"Angel, be careful" Aeris called out.

"Don't worry about me Aeris, protect the others" Angel said. She had seen what Sephiroth had done and in her fury cried out "Fury Strike!!" which would unleash her most powerful attack at him. An aura of red light surrounded her, when it had dissipated she ran towards her brother and slashed at him four times. Each strike was powered by her fury.

" Ha, Ha, Ha, that pitiful attack can't hurt me. You may have been my equal in the past but now you are nothing but a weak fool." Sephiroth said as he took the blows without harm. The attack didn't connect as Sephiroth gathered the power of Jenova to him.

_* Gather together your inner energy and use the power of Holy to defeat him*_ The voice told Angel _*Defeat him, you must as Guardian of the planet you must use Holy to stop him.* _

Angel heard the voice as she parried another attack, *how?* she thought to the voice * and what do you mean by that?* but as always the voice didn't answer her. As she was slightly distracted Sephiroth took the chance and sent Angel flying into the side of the altar. As she got up, she felt her anger rise and without considering the consequences she raise her sword. "That may not have but this attack will" she said in a deadly tone " HOLY STRIKE" 

Sephiroth recoiled from his sister as an aura of holy shone from her. Running towards him she slashed out at her brother with all her strength, the power of holy increasing the power of the stroke. Twenty-nine more times she slashed at him and when she finished Sephiroth collapsed on the floor. 

"You may have beaten me now dear sister, but I shall return, watch behind you for I'll be there" Sephiroth said as he rose from the ground, and although wounded he managed to fly out of the forgotten capital.

" Holy shit" Cid exclaimed when Sephiroth escaped. He held his spear out in front of him when Angel approached the group, still not willing to trust her.

" What did I just unleash then?" Angel asked Aeris, who was trying hard not to laugh at the look on Clouds' face.

"You used Holy in your attack, that is one of your limits isn't it?" Aeris replied then she smiled "and it wasn't entirely your idea was it?"

" No, I heard a voice telling me to use the Holy materia, and I think that you know what it is, what is it?" 

Cloud looked at Cid, all of them knew that Sephiroth could hear a voice, and because she was his sister it stood to reason that she could also be hearing the voice of Jenova.

"You hear Jenova" Cloud said " not surprising really, you.."

**_* What she's been hearing is me, the voice of this planet *_** The planet interrupted in all of their minds. A white light enveloped Angel and the voice continued _*** You have Holy as a weapon young Cetra, for that is what you now are. As a Guardian of the planet, I have given you a unique skill, you have the ability to use magic without materia. Touching the materia will give you the knowledge of using that type of magic. Although you are suspicious, Angel has been acting on my commands, she is free of Jenova's influence***_

The light faded showing the changes that the Planet had done to Angel. The Soldier uniform she was dressed in was green, blue and white instead of the black it used to be, and she had a new sword. In her hand there were now two white materia orbs. Cloud noticed that the sword looked to be made out of the same substance that his Ultima weapon was made of. He also noticed that there was a rune, in gold along the hilt.

"What does this mean Aeris?" Angel asked Aeris in confusion. Even after hearing the planet she wasn't sure what had just happened. 

We both carry Holy, like me you are a Cetra and we have to save the planet from whatever Sephiroth has planned for it next." she replied, taking one of the orbs from Angel "That rune on your sword is the name of your sword. Planets' fury!"

Whilst they were talking, Avalanche discussed what they had just seen and heard, still in a mild state of disbelief. 

"Sephiroths sister is on our side?!!?!" Cid exclaimed in shock.

"She did bring Aeris back and fought Sephiroth, Cid" Tifa replied to him "And the Planet vouches for her"

"$£&*(*%, and an Ancient" Barret said looking towards Angel.

"Didn't Sephiroth think he was an Ancient and go nuts?" Yuffie asked.

Aeris and Angel finished talking and rejoined the group. Angel walked up to Cloud.

"I would like to join Avalanche, to help stop my brother" She said and waited for Cloud's answer.

" I still don't believe it" Cloud said with some scepticism looking at Angel. "What if it's a trick, like what Sephiroth did to me in the Crater"

_*** The reason I freed Angel from cryogenic suspension was so then she could resurrect Aeris. ***_ The Planet said, with a hint of annoyance 

_* She is the only one powerful enough to do this. Sephiroth did not die when you fought him in the North crater and neither did Jenova. Both she and Aeris are needed to stop them and so are you.*_

In the silence that followed,Vincent walked towards Angel " I need to ask you, why did you try to kill Hojo ?" 

"I didn't, not exactly. I found out about the Jenova project and what Hojo had done to me and my brother as well as our Mother." Angel replied sadly "I wasn't paying attention and Hojo caught me reading the files, I confronted him with what I knew and tried to get past him to tell Sephiroth. Next thing I remember is waking up in the basement of Shin-ra HQ."

"Ouch, nasty" Yuffie commented.

" There is something you must know, Hojo is . . ." Red started, 

" My father, yes I know and Lucrecia is my true mother" she interrupted. 

********************* 

Reeve sat back on his chair and looked out of the window at what once was the small village of Kalm. After Midgar had been destroyed most of the survivors had come here, now those who hadn't moved on to Junon or Wutai had built more houses making Kalm into a small city. Reeve wondered how the others were doing in tracking down Sephiroths sister and if they had succeeded in stopping her. He was deep in thought when the phone rang. "Reeve, this is Dio, there's an emergency"

"What emergency, I can't imagine anything wrong at the Gold Saucer" Reeve said getting worried

"It's not here at the Saucer. Gongaga is burning, you can see the smoke and the glare from the fire from here" came the reply.

" I'll get on it" he said slamming down the phone and picking up the PHS. Punching in Clouds' number he yelled through to his secretary "Pauline, get the Turks to investigate Gongaga, tell them I'll join them soon with reinforcements" 

********************* 

As the group headed out of the City after introducing themselves to Angel, Aeris decided to approach Tifa with something she had on her mind. Waiting for the others to go on ahead she caught hold of Tifa's arm.

"I need to talk to you Tifa" Aeris said.

"What about?"

"When's the wedding?" Aeris asked a blushing Tifa .

" How did you find out about that?" Tifa replied slightly shocked that Aeris could find out so rapidly and that Aeris though it was important to talk to her about it "Did the others tell you?"

"No they didn't, you and Cloud were destined for each other, Cait Sith got it wrong in the Temple, I was never meant to be with him." Aeris told her with a smile "The reason I flirted with him was because I knew what I might have to do to stop the Planet being hurt. I never meant to make you jealous or hurt your feelings." 

"It's alright Aeris, I forgive you" Tifa said and hugged her "I guess I wasn't to understanding, but I have to say you're like a sister to me now after all that we went through with the Don and the temple"

"That's good, I have something to ask though, Can I be your bridesmaid at the wedding?"

" Of course you can. Although we haven't actually got that far in planning yet" Tifa said startled at Aeris' request.

"How come?" Aeris asked as they exited the forgotten City.

"Because someone over there is slightly scared of rushing it" Tifa replied with a laugh.

Cloud managed to overhear the last bit of the conversation and went red with embarrassment. Cid laughed when he saw this "Cloud you look like a beetroot!"

"Hey! It's just something the girls said" Cloud replied defensively

"You shouldn't be eavesdropping then!" Yuffie called back to him.

At the front of the group the rest were talking to Angel.

"Why didn't you tell us that the planet was talking to you?" Red asked "If you had, we wouldn't have tried to harm you"

"Because I didn't know at the time. I'm as shocked as you are Nanaki" Angel replied.

"Call me Red, Angel.. it's easier that way" Red replied.

Cid lit up another cigarette "Well finding out you were on our side was a shock, but finding out that $%^& Sephiroth is still around is worse"

"Cid! Remember who you're talking to" Vincent said with a sharp tone in his voice.

"It's alright, Sephiroth is in the wrong, it doesn't matter that he is my brother. I'll do what I must to stop him"

"Because you're a Guardian of the planet, what is one of those?" Yuffie asked

" I'm confused" Barret stated " If she's a Guardian of the planet, what's Aeris then?" pointing to Angel and scratching his head.

Angel looked at Barret shaking her head " I don't know, Barret, Yuffie, I don't have much of a clue myself. I know some things about the Cetra, but not much."

" I'm a protector of the planet, and before any of you ask what the difference is, the protectors don't usually fight, we're the peaceful ones. The guardians are the warriors and the ones who do battle to keep the planet safe and they also keep the protectors safe." Aeris explained. "Although I've become more of a guardian than a protector"

"That clears everything up" Yuffie commented sarcastically "Can't you ever have things simple?"

Everyone laughed at Yuffies complaint.

"Well it seems that I was wrong, welcome to Avalanche Angel. If you still want to join" Cloud extended his hand to her.

Angel shook Cloud's hand "Of course I want to be part of Avalanche." 

At that moment Clouds' PHS rang

"Reeve what is it?" Cloud asked.

"Pick me up outside of Midgar, Gongaga is burning!" 


	5. Gongaga

**Sephiroth's Sister**

Chapter 4 - Gongaga

The villagers of Bone village watched as all the members of Avalanche ran through their village at top speed with the woman who they had been chasing within the group. They didn't know what to make of what had just happened, and seeing the woman who they thought had been murdered, in Avalanche's midst made their confusion worse. 

One of the villages yelled over to them "What's going on?"

Cloud yelled back "Long story, we'll tell you when we get a chance to" then he muttered to himself "If we're alive to that is" 

Reaching the Highwind everyone got on board, however Cloud held Angel back " I know what you did and what the planet has said about you Angel, but we've been tricked before and I have to ask for the safety of everyone. Can you be trusted?"

Angel looked at him with amusement "I'm no threat to you Cloud, or anyone other than our enemies, I know what I am and how I was created. And if I wanted to harm you I would have done it easily when I was fighting you" she retorted, climbing up the ladder to the deck of the airship. 

Cloud sighed, he couldn't deny the truth of that and decided to forget about the incident. He would watch her like he would anyone, and hope that he was right in trusting her.

" Cloud get your @$$ up here now" Cid called from the deck as Cloud climbed slowly up the ladder "Reeve's waiting for us" 

********************* 

When the Highwind appeared on the horizon Reeve picked up a large shotgun and headed out to the field where it would be landing. He knew the Highwind would get there well before him so he ran as fast as he could. A few seconds later the Highwind landed and the members of Avalanche waited on the deck for the running figure of Reeve to make it to the ship. Once he had climbed aboard the Highwind took off, heading towards Gongaga, it would take a few hours to reach, even in the Highwind.

"All right," Reeve said "This time I'm coming with you. Cait Sith isn't ready yet and I want to see what's going on…." He looked round at the gathered members of Avalanche and saw Angel standing behind the group "Holy Shit, Angel's behind you" he exclaimed pointing his gun at her.

"Reeve relax" Aeris said stepping out "She is on our side, and we have a lot to tell you"

"Wha' the" he said in surprise "How'd you return, what's going on?" he looked at Cloud plaintively expecting an answer that made some sort of sense. 

"Angel brought me back using Holy" Aeris replied as everyone entered the Highwinds main corridor "She's one of us now…"

"I don't believe this!!! Has anything else happened that I should know about?" Reeve said in disbelief.

Angel sighed and wandered back onto the deck, she knew that it would take a while for people to accept her knowing what her brother had done, and she decided to wait until they had told Reeve the bad news. Her wait wasn't for long when she heard Reeve swearing in frustration and he stormed out onto the deck. "You fought your own brother?"

"Yes, I know that it's hard to believe, but I will not harm innocents or my friends, Reeve" Angel replied. "Sephiroth is clearly in the wrong, and I will not condone what he has done, or will do." She began to walk away "and I am Cetra, Reeve, the Planet made me one"

As the Highwind passed over the mountains between Kalm and Junon Reeve's voice could clearly be heard swearing viciously. 

********************* 

Angel sat on the stairs that led to the deck of the ship, even after she had said all that to Reeve an hour earlier she still didn't feel that she was in the right. If she had been more careful all those years ago, she might have prevented her brother from going insane. She sighed and stood up, she was about to go back out onto the deck, when she heard a noise below her, she looked down and saw Yuffie suffering from motion sickness. Angel sympathised, when she had first started her training she hadn't taken very well to travel, and it was only after she had done some intensive training that she had managed to get over it. Instead of going out she walked over to Yuffie. 

"I remember when I used to hate travelling because of motion sickness." Angel said.

"How'd you…. Urk … get over it?" Yuffie asked.

"By chewing on sweets, Hojo used to go berserk" Angel replied with a smile "By the time I was older I used to ignore the movement by meditating. I can show you how if you like"

"Please" Yuffie said, trying not to be ill.

"Alright, close your eyes and think of being on solid land, don't think about movement" Angel began as Yuffie did what she was saying.

Further back, Tifa and Cloud watched in amusement.

"How can meditation stop motion sickness?." Tifa asked.

"By making sure your mind isn't paying attention to your surroundings" Cloud replied watching the scene. "I'm still not certain if I can trust her, she's Sephiroth's sister..."

"Which has nothing to do with it" Aeris interrupted "You forget Cloud, she's like me, we can't do anything to harm the Planet."

"Sorry Aeris, it's just hard to trust anyone who is related to Sephiroth, after what he did" Cloud replied.

"I know, you should talk to her a little, maybe become friends. Just imagine what it'd be like if you had woken up after years asleep and found that the one person you had trusted since birth had betrayed you and tried to kill you. That's what she's going through, and yet she still helps us" Aeris answered "Oh, before I forget, Cid wants you on the bridge. He needs to talk to you about Reeve." She walked past them and headed towards where Angel was helping Yuffie to meditate.

"I need to talk to you Angel" Aeris said, "can we go up to the deck?"

"Sure, Yuffie do you think you can meditate without me?" Angel asked Yuffie.

"Yep, thanks… I don't feel so ill now" Yuffie replied as she continued to meditate.

As they walked out of the corridor Aeris turned to Angel "With everything going on I didn't thank you for what you did for me" 

"It's alright Aeris, I'm glad I did, even though I had no idea what I was doing at the time" Angel replied "I know you have something on your mind… what is it?"

Aeris hesitated for a second then asked " Do you have a limit skill that can heal?" When Angel shook her head Aeris continued "All cetra have a holy healing limit called Great Gospel, I would like to teach it to you"

"But that's an ultimate limit, I already have one called Holy strike, or so the planet said, and from what I learned about them, you can't have more than one" Angel argued.

"In most cases yes, people only have one, but you are Cetra, and our duty is to help people, not fight.. well not usually anyway." Aeris replied "If I'm out of the fight, who'll protect the others when they need this spell?"

"I see your point, but what does the planet say to this?" Angel asked

_* As a powerful Cetra you need both Angel, to fulfil your role as guardian of the planet. However Aeris also needs to learn how to defend herself in battle, as it stands both of you are extremes, one of you is a fighter the other a healer, you need to teach each other so both of you can protect this planet.* _The planet said to the two Cetra.

"How do we teach limits, Aeris?" Angel asked in the Cetra language.

"I'm not sure" Aeris replied also speaking in Cetra.

At that point Cloud, who had been talking to Cid about problems they had, came up on the deck. He stopped and looked at the two women, who were deep in conversation in some language he'd never heard before. He shook his head and turned round, he wasn't going to interrupt them, they looked busy. He'd call them to the meeting later. 

********************* 

"We'd better get ready, Gongaga in three minutes" Cid called over the ship's intercom "Come up here and look"

"Where's Aeris?" Vincent asked as Cloud entered the bridge.

"On deck talking to Angel, they were discussing something" he replied picking up his sword and strapping it on his back.

"What were they talking about?" Red asked curiously.

"No idea, I don't know what language they were using, let alone understand it" Cloud grinned "maybe they can teach it to you Red, when this is over"

"Thanks, I'll pass… though the elders may like to know it" 

"So what did you need me for, and where's Reeve?" Cloud asked.

"He's talkin' to Yuffie" Barret replied "He needs Materia, so he went to ask her if she had any he could borrow"

"There is no more mastered Materia for him to use" Yuffie said from the door as both her and Reeve entered, "I only have weak stuff, left over from the materia that we mastered"

"Now what? I may be a crack shot with this thing" Reeve shouldered the shotgun "but I need magic in case we come across Sephiroth"

"I suppose we can give his a couple of ours, I suppose we don't all need every single spell" Tifa commented thoughtfully.

"That'll work, But it'll leave us at a disadvantage" Cloud said "We all know which spells we have, and lending them you Reeve, will mean that if we go to use it and we don't have it… we waste precious seconds"

"Aeris also needs materia, I don't think she had any when she left us last time" Vincent added.

"Luckily I already have some materia" Aeris said, causing everyone to turn round. She was standing in the door with Angek next to her. "I have a few mastered healing spells, and some attack." 

"And I have some mastered Materia that I don't need" Angel said "Reeve can have them, I don't need the orbs to cast these spells anymore." She handed over 8 materia orbs.

"Hmm, lemme see, Time, Lightning, Fire, Ice, Earth, Cure, Revive and Ultima." Reeve exclaimed as he examined the materia "Nice, Thanks"

"No problem Reeve" Angel replied smiling "I'll be on the deck waiting" 

" Next time give them to me" Yuffie pouted as she watched Reeve place the materia in his gun and Angel walk back out of the room.

"Yuffie, you have enough materia from the stuff we gave you after we beat Sephiroth the first time" Tifa told her, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at the young girl.

" Spoilsport" Yuffie pouted.

"We've landed, so stop arguing and lets get our butts over to the village slowpokes!" Cid called to them, as he ran past, preventing an argument from beginning.

As the group started to leave the Highwind Cloud asked Angel "What were you and Aeris talking about? I didn't understand a word you two were saying"

"You were eavesdropping?" Angel asked amused, as Cloud said nothing she continued "You may as well know, we were talking about Limit skills. Aeris has no attack limit, so I taught her a holy attack."

"You were? Why?" Cloud wanted to know

"Because I don't want her to go through that again, I haven't known her long, but in some ways she's like a little sister" Angel replied "I suppose it's the planet's influence on me" she smiled and walked away from the airship, heading towards the village with Tifa, Cid, Vincent and Reeve. The others were heading in a slightly different directions to make sure that if one group were surprised the others could come to their aid.

Cloud hurried to catch up with Yuffie, Aeris, Red and Barret, his sword drawn was drawn, and he was ready for anything. As he looked to see how the other group were coming along on the lower path, he caught sight of Angel, her sword ready. He shivered as he saw how similar she was to her brother, but Cloud realised that she was nothing like him, although she possessed Jenova cells and mako inside of her, Angel was more like Aeris.

"Yo spiky, stop daydreaming!" Barret shouted to Cloud, snapping him out of his line of thought.

"Sorry Barret, I was just thinking" He replied as ran to join the rest of small group " We don't know if the person responsible for this is still around, everyone keep your guard up"

" I bet it was that ^%£$^ Sephiroth" Barret said looking around.

" We don't know that Barret, It could have been someone else" Vincent said as both groups joined back up, the village entrance was just a few meters away. Entering the village moments later, they stopped, what they saw horrified them. Burnt out shells of houses, some still glowing red, showing that the destruction was recent met their eyes, but the worst of it was the bodies of the villagers lying on the ground.

Yuffie turned away from the sight, trying not to be ill. Aeris and Tifa also averted their eyes as the others investigated.

"Maybe you should wait outside the village" Vincent told the three women as he noticed their distress at what they were seeing. "Keep a look out to make sure we aren't attacked by whoever did this"

"Good idea Vincent" Tifa said as she steered the other two away from the village "We'll yell if we see anything."

"Alright, I must get back… Cloud is signalling me" He replied as he saw Cloud wave over to him.

Angel had crouched down beside the body of a young child " Sephiroth did this" she said in a tone of voice that did not hide her sorrow or anger " They were killed by a sword thrust that could only come from a long sword, and only myself and Sephiroth have them."

"You sure about that Angel?" Red asked 

"I'm sure" Angel replied.

"Alright, I'm sending three of you looking for signs of him, the rest of us will bury the dead here and see if anyone survived. Where are the girls?" Cloud looked round trying to see them

"They're at the village entrance; they're making sure we aren't surprised here. I don't think they should come into the village" Vincent replied.

"Fine. Angel, you scout north. Red you scout east, Vincent you check west. Look for survivors and be careful, Sephiroth may still be around" Cloud turned to the others. "We'd better get started"

Angel, Red and Vincent moved to the village entrance and split off in the directions they had been assigned.

" Why did ya sent them?" Barret wanted to know.

"Because they're fast and all of them know what they're looking for, we'll check over there to see if any of these people survived." Cloud replied. "Cid you organise the girls to get ready for casualties if we find them."

Cid moved off to tell the three women whilst Barret, Cloud and Reeve moved to see if anyone in the village was still alive. 

********************* 

Red sniffed around, but he couldn't see or smell anything that indicated someone had passed this way. He couldn't pick up any hints of anything, no monsters in the area either. As he reached the end of the woodland, he stared out across the grassland to see if he could see anyone escaping, but the land was empty of all humans. In the distance he could see some creatures but they were too far away, and he hadn't picked up their scent, so if there were survivors in this area they should be safe from attack. Red turned and headed back into the forest seeing if he could find anything.

Vincent however had found a few injured people, most of them were babbling about a man in black, and his heart sank. That was the description of Sephiroth. He led them back to the village to be tended to by Yuffie, Aeris and Tifa before he continued on his search for survivors or the culprit. He wondered how Sephiroth had managed to survive, and found that he couldn't even begin to guess how it had happened.

Meanwhile Angel listened for any sound to indicate that there was another person or creature around, but the woods were silent. When things were this quiet, there were always nasty surprises waiting in the shadows. Feeling uneasy she continued to walk deeper into the forest, her sword drawn and ready in case her brother was still in the area.

Her fears were realised when a voice rang out " Halt, Identify yourself" as a woman stepped out of the trees ahead of her with a bald headed man at her side. 

"Who are you?" Angel asked looking at them. She had heard something about a shadowy group within the old Shin-ra called the Turks, and if what Barret and Cid had been telling her was accurate then she was looking at two of their members, but it didn't harm to get confirmation. Although she was sure of who they were, she didn't relax the hold on her sword, in case they weren't the Turks.

"I am Rude, this is Elena, we're the Turks, and I think we've just found out the person responsible for this carnage" Rude stated looking at her sword.

Angel was about to protest when another person emerged from the trees behind her, she turned rapidly, but her attention had been on the two who had stopped her, and she didn't turn fast enough. Reno jabbed his night-stick at her back and flicked the switch. Angel screamed as the electricity flowed through her, seeking the way to the ground, unable to break free because of the paralysis the electricity caused. "And I'm Reno, pleased to meet you" Reno told her as he kept the nightstick to her back until she passed out.

In the village Cloud heard the scream, as he got the rest of the group together he found they had also heard it.

"We have to hurry, everyone get your weapons. Sephiroth could be attacking" Cloud said as everyone ran out of the village, the girls, who were still taking care of the wounded joined them as all seven of them ran through the woods towards whoever had screamed. As they ran they were joined by Vincent and Red. All of them knew Angel was scouting in this direction and hoped that she would be the first one there to help whoever had screamed, if she wasn't the one in trouble, none of them wanted to think about that.

Further in the woods Angel recovered from the nightstick attack far more rapidly than the Turks anticipated. She could hear them arguing about finding rope, she glanced to her side and noticed her sword was where she had dropped it. She knew it was far too heavy for any of them to pick up and the sword wouldn't have allowed it anyway. She watched with half closed eyes, as the arguing continued, and when they had all turned their backs she picked herself up from the ground. Angel noticed that she was slightly off balance from Reno's attack and still slightly dazed; however she managed to retrieve her sword.

Reno turned round as Angel stood up " ^%£$, she's awake. . . PYRAMID" he yelled panicking slightly. 

Angel attempted to dodge, but the effects of the earlier attack hadn't worn off and she smacked into the wall of the transparent pyramid that surrounded her.

"I'd love to know what I've done to make you attack me twice. My friends aren't going to be happy with you" Angel glared at Reno as she cast a spell on the pyramid.

"We'll take on your friends when they arrive" Reno smirked at her efforts. "I don't think you can break that"

"Maybe not Reno, but I can break it for her." Cloud said as he ran into the clearing, followed closely by all the rest of avalanche. "Angel, are you alright, we heard you scream."

Angel nodded still attacking the Pyramid "I'm alright, Reno's attack was painful" 

"Reno, What did you say about takin' on us?" Barret asked pointing his gun-arm at the Turks.

"Barret Enough!" Tifa told him.

"Wait a minute, she's part of Avalanche?" Reno asked slightly shocked trying to figure out where he had just screwed up. He had no desire to face Avalanche again.

Angel had finally figured out how the pyramid kept her imprisoned and shattered it with Holy, before any of Avalanche could get past the Turks. Reno , Rude and Elena turned round, their mouths opened in shock. "How'd…" they began.

Angel glared at the three Turks, the first glimmerings of anger in her eyes. "Ok, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. To start with, I did not do anything to the villagers, yes I look like Sephiroth and carry a weapon like him, but I'm not my brother. I came with Avalanche when the call came in." She told them "And I used this to break the pyramid" she held up the Holy materia "I'm Cetra"

Reno looked at her "Any relation of that psychopath is not a Cetra, he had those delusions as well"

"I can vouch for her" Aeris said walking directly in front of Reno, much to his surprise "She is a cetra, like me and a Guardian of the planet. Angel is not Sephiroth, she came with us"

"Wait a minute, you're supposed to be dead. And who else could be responsible except for her" Rude challenged Aeris 

"Is this some sort of trick?" Elena said at the same time.

Reno however readied his night-stick. "There's a simple way to tell.." he said as he went for Aeris

Angel realised what Reno intended to do and had changed her sword into her thin, two meter long staff. As Reno charged, she knocked him to the far side of the clearing.

Cloud went red with fury, stormed over to where Reno was getting to his feet and held him up by the throat "Don't you EVER do that again Reno, if you want to survive. Aeris sacrificed a lot for us, the least you can do is remember that!" he said in a low voice.

"Cloud, calm down" Vincent put his hand on Clouds shoulder. "Remember what we're really here for!"

"Alright, but if I see you try to harm any member of Avalanche again, you'll be sorry" Cloud told Reno.

"You know Reno, this isn't the best way to ensure you three get paid" Reeve said, walking out from under a tree. As the slowest it took him some time to catch up with the group "I told you to investigate, not get into fights"

"Alright, I'm sorry, but how was I supposed to know if this was a trick or not? Especially after what we saw in the village."

"I understand, but next time, give me a chance to explain will you" Angel said "that way misunderstandings are less likely to happen."

"You could've killed him, with that hit though!" Elena protested.

Angel gave her a level look "Doubtful, why do you think I changed my sword to a staff? I knew exactly what I was doing, I have no reason to kill you do I? You were only doing your job."

Rude looked thoughtful "You know I've seen you fight before, I believe you. If you wanted to harm us, you could've done it easily" He looked round at the shocked faces. "I forgot, none of you would know, I saw her spar with Sephiroth on the day I joined Shin-ra, the day she vanished come to think of it"

"We can talk on the way back to the village, we still have work to do there" Cloud interrupted, getting all of them to head back the way they'd come. The Turks came with them, still talking.

"In that match you saw Rude, we weren't using magic. That's how we used to train, to make sure we weren't at a disadvantage if our opponent was armed with Materia. The commanders thought that that would scare the recruits too much, so we stuck with normal fighting" Angel continued to explain.

"One thing I'd like to know though" Reno called over to Cloud "Who the hell is responsible for this?"

"That's easy to answer, we already knew before we landed that it was Sephiroth." Cloud replied.

"Are you out of your mind? You killed Sephiroth months ago." Reno retorted.

"Unfortunately he's right Reno." Reeve said "Somehow both Sephiroth and Jenova survived." 


	6. Flight

**

Sephiroth's sister

**

Chapter 5 - Flight

Reno looked at the other Turks; he could see Rude was talking to Tifa, the girl he liked. Although Rude knew he had no chance, he still liked to talk to her. Elena was talking to Yuffie about Materia and how to use it more effectively in battle. 

As he walked over to Cloud he could hear him and Reeve arguing about if the Turks should join up with Avalanche.

"What I'd like to know is how Sephiroth survived, you haven't told us yet." Reno interrupted the two men. 

"We don't know how he survived, Reno. All we know is that he's back, and trying to carry on what he started." Cloud turned round to look at the red headed Turk.

"So, you screwed up.. that it?" Reno replied acidly.

"Reno!" Reeve glared at him.

"Sorry, what I'd like to say is that we almost messed your plans last time, and you still stopped Meteor, this time, we want to help bring Sephiroth down. We've had enough of being the ones on the reciving end of a kicking" Reno smiled.

"Well?" Reeve turned to Cloud "That's what I've been telling you"

"Fine, they're in Avalanche" Cloud gave in "But if they screw up I'll not be held responsible for my actions"

"We won't, but let's get one thing straight, I'm still the leader of the Turks" Reno said walking off towards both Aeris and Angel, who were looking uneasy. "What's up with you two, I've never seen anyone so jumpy" 

Aeris jumped "Don't do that Reno" she began "I don't know, something doesn't feel right"

"How?" Reno wanted to know turning to Angel.

"Don't ask me… I've no idea either" Angel replied "Although; it feels similar to what I felt in the City…"

"The City?" Reno asked curious.

"Just before Sephiroth" Angel stopped as she realised what she was saying "CLOUD get everyone ready, I sense trouble" Angel yelled to everyone as she drew her sword.

"So, dear Sister, you can tell when I'm near. I'm impressed" A voice came from the trees above them. "Why do you waste your time with these miserable humans? Mother would be glad to have you join us"

"Sephiroth, you're dead!" Cloud exclaimed as he ran towards Sephiroth, his sword ready to strike.

"Was it something I did?" Sephiroth looked amused, sending Cloud flying to the other end of the burnt out village. Tifa ran over to help him up.

"I'll never join Jenova, Sephiroth" Angel replied "She isn't our mother, she's manipulating you."

"Liar. Sister, I give you this one chance; otherwise I'll destroy you, like I'll destroy all traitors to Mother." Sephiroth replied.

"You tried to kill me once Sephiroth, in the city. You killed all these innocent people" Angel pointed to the burnt out village "and you've tried to destroy the planet, which I'm sworn to protect. There's no way I'll help Jenova. If I must, I will kill you Sephy" Angel replied, her voice getting stronger as she spoke. She didn't want to harm Sephiroth, and Sephiroth knew it, he knew if he pushed her, he might get her on his side.

Avalanche watched the battle of wills developing between the siblings, fearful of what would happen if Angel's resolve should fail.

"That was a mistake, I wanted the Cetra dead, you got in the way" Sephiroth's eyes narrowed at the use of his nickname. "Join us, or I will destroy another town"

"No, you won't destroy another town as long as I live, and I won't join you!" Angel almost screamed at him.

"Have it your way Sis" Sephiroth said, flying higher "I hope you don't mind Cosmo Canyon going up in flames" Sephiroth laughed before speeding away.

"He wouldn't????" Red looked at the receding form of Sephiroth in horror. All of Avalanche had tried to attack him in the time that he had been talking to Angel, but something had kept them back. Aeris had only managed to break the spell as he had flown away.

"Not if I have anything to say about it Red" Angel replied as she started to run after Sephiroth.

"Be sensible, there's no way you'll catch him on foot. We'll get him with the Highwind" Vincent called out to her. 

"I have to do something now, this is my fault" Angel called back before using the haste spell. 

"Shit" Cid exclaimed "She's gonna get herself killed. There's no way she'll be able to stop him"

"I'm not sure about that, Everyone.. to the Highwind" Cloud told them "Sephiroth is taunting her, the same as he did to me remember"

"Why can't things be easy?" Yuffie complained as they ran to the airship. 

********************* 

Sephiroth stood on a cliff watching the figure of his sister approaching from the direction of Gongaga. He smiled; in the distance he could see the Highwind, although it wouldn't reach them both for at least another fifteen minutes. That was plenty of time to do what he had to do. As Angel reached the top of the cliff he drew his sword and lashed out at her. 

"Traitor" he said, "You have betrayed your mother! Now you will die"

Angel managed to block the sword thrust with her own weapon, now that she was facing her brother alone she realised that she didn't want to harm him. In all the years they had put up with Soldier training, he was the only person she trusted. She only had one option; she would try to break Jenova's hold over him.

"Haven't you wondered where I've been all these years?" she countered, as she began an attack sequence. Sephiroth blocked the move as easily as she had blocked his. "Have you ever wondered why I disappeared?"

"Hojo told me you had gone insane and tried to kill him, pity you didn't. He was a pitiful man" Sephiroth replied, as he cast multiple spells and watched as Angel dodged them all. 

"Shows what you know. Hojo shot me with a tranquilliser, and put me in cryogenic suspension." Angel retorted as she retaliated with elemental spells of her own. 

"And why would he do that if you hadn't gone berserk?" Sephiroth asked, "You were an embarrassment to Shin-ra, it took years to escape from the rumours and the suspicions."

"So the reason you do this is to get back at everyone for embarrassing you? I thought you were more intelligent than that. Hojo shot me because I found out the truth of the Jenova project. He shot me to prevent me from telling you!" Angel screamed the last line at him as she parried more weapon strokes. 

"Liar" Sephiroth replied, "Mother told me the truth, you couldn't handle what was done. You went crazy. I'm not the one that's insane, YOU are!" Sephiroth began casting the Supernova spell.

On the Highwind, Avalanche were out on the deck, they had only just got into range of the fight and they could now see and hear everything that was going on.

"She's gonna be killed!" Tifa exclaimed "That spell almost wiped us out when we encountered it!"

"No she won't be, watch" Aeris said with a small smile on her face.

"What's she doin'? She's not fightin' him!" Barret asked puzzled.

"I don't believe it!" Cid exclaimed "I don't %^$%^ believe it, she's trying to persuade him to turn away from Jenova!!!"

Angel watched as Sephiroth finished the spell, and knew there was only one way to survive it. She immediately cast her second ultimate limit spell, the one Aeris had taught her. Great Gospel. The Supernova spell didn't harm her one bit as the shield it created prevented all harm to her. Angel looked at Sephiroth, who had backed off. He knew the implications of that spell and also knew only Cetra could cast it. She thrust her weapon, point first, into the ground and looked at Sephiroth.

"When have I ever lied to you Sephy? You're believing the lie. If you want to know the truth then renounce Jenova. Help us stop her; she's the one manipulating you. I'm not the one who's crazy." Angel folded her arms and waited. She could see the inner struggle in Sephiroth's eyes as he tried to rationalise what he had just seen.

Back on the Highwind there were gasps of relief when they saw the Great Gospel spell. Cloud turned to Aeris "Did you.." he began as Aeris shook her head.

"No, Angel knows the spell as well as me. Remember, she's Cetra too"

"Now what's she up to?" Reeve asked as he watched Angel walk over to Sephiroth and hug him.

"No idea, I'm beginning to wonder if she's as crazy as he is" Reno replied. "No-one in their right mind would go near him"

Angel held Sephiroth's shoulders "Do you understand Sephiroth. Jenova is the liar, why would anyone want to destroy this planet? Jenova is the one who wants to become a god. She would have discarded you, and you would have died. You used to be the most respected Soldier from what I've heard, until this. Now you are feared by everyone, they think of you as insane and as a destroyer, a murderer. Do you really want that as your legacy?" She asked looking into his eyes. The proximity of the Holy materia cleared Sephiroth's mind, for the first time in over five years, of the influence of Jenova.

"Angel.. Sis… Jenova?" Sephiroth started unsure of what to say.

"Holy has stopped Jenova's influence Seph, you're free of her. However, you have to want to stay free of her influence otherwise I can do nothing else" Angel replied sadly. "Please, reject her; otherwise I dread what I'll have to do."

"Sis… I…"

_"She lies, you are mine Sephiroth, Finish her!"_ an angry voice rang out as the form of am unearthly woman appeared behind Angel. The woman was far taller than any of them, and a strange shade of purple. Instead of arms, she had long tentacles, and appeared to be floating above the ground. She lashed out at Angel, sending her flying towards the edge of the cliff.

"No, I won't" Sephiroth told Jenova "She is my sister, leave her alone!"

On the Highwind Avalanche couldn't believe what they were hearing. Sephiroth was rejecting Jenova; he was turning against the creature that had manipulated him and protecting his sister. 

_"So, that's the decision you've made the. Fine. This is what happens to all who turn away from my power" _Jenova replied as she picked the stunned Angel off the floor and threw her off the cliff. This was her biggest mistake. Jenova might have been able to take control of Sephiroth again if she hadn't threatened Angel; this broke all her control over Sephiroth.

"ANGEL!" Sephiroth screamed as he saw his sister fall. He knew he could help her if he hurried, so he ran towards where Angel had been. Jenova however blocked his path.

_"Traitor. You have betrayed your own mother. If you wish to save the other traitor then you'll have to go through me!"_ Jenova told him smugly, knowing that he wouldn't be able to save his sister. Jenova also knew the airship that was circling wasn't in the right position to help.

"Come on we have to stop Jenova" Aeris said to the group " Even if it means helping Sephiroth"

"No way!" Cloud replied, "I'll never help him!" 

"Angel trusted you Cloud, she tried to turn Sephiroth and succeeded. The least we can do is help him kill Jenova" Aeris replied hotly, she knew the attitude towards Sephiroth ran throughout the ship, but she had to do something.

Suddenly a familiar voice behind Jenova rang out and a burst of green light struck the entity from behind. The Ultima spell, however, did little damage so the person behind Jenova started to attack with her sword, Sephiroth also moved to attack with his sword. Jenova, seeing she had underestimated both Angel and Sephiroth vanished suddenly, leaving Sephiroth looking at his very annoyed sister. 

"Blast, Jenova's gone" Angel said looking to see if she could see any trace of where Jenova had vanished.

Sephiroth just looked stunned "Angel how did you. . ." he started to ask.

" Survive?" Angel smiled "It seems that I can fly as well" She concentrated for a second and two white wings appeared. "I don't know why the way I fly is different to yours, but I think it's something to do with the Mako."

"I don't believe this.. I thought Jenova had killed you!" Sephiroth said, shaking his head "I suppose I should've realised that both of us are hard to kill." He looked up to the Highwind "although, now, I'm not sure what I should do."

Angel saw what Sephiroth was looking at "Ah, I see your point, but come with me to the Highwind, we'll explain it to the others and you can help us against Jenova" 

"I'm not sure about that, they'll kill me for what I've done to them, and put them through" Sephiroth said bitterly "The planet knows I deserve it"

"Stop being so negative, yes there'll be accusations, when did you turn into a coward?" Angel asked with an innocent look, knowing that was one of the few ways to annoy Sephiroth.

"Alright already, I get your point; I think they want you back up there anyway." Sephiroth said, refusing to rise to the bait.

"Come on I'll explain to them that you are with us, not against us. I think someone else may help win your case as well" Angel said mysteriously.

Sephiroth looked at his sister and smiled "In that case lead on then, sis" he began to hover as Angel began to use her new wings to take off from the ground. It was harder than Sephiroth's way but it served its purpose. "You know, I wonder if Hojo knew that he'd named me well." Angel commented as she headed towards the airship. 

Sephiroth shook his head and followed. "I doubt it. Hojo wasn't what you'd call imaginative."

On the deck of the Highwind Cloud watched in disbelief as Sephiroth and Angel headed their way. He drew his sword ready to fight if he had to.

"Cloud, put that sword away!" Aeris told him, exasperated. She knew that Sephiroth had broken free of Jenova's influence. She had sensed the power of Holy when Angel had used it, without realising that she did, and knew exactly what it had done. 

Both Sephiroth and Angel landed at the far end of the deck to prevent anyone from doing anything stupid. Angel could see the looks on her friends' faces when they saw Sephiroth and she knew she was going to have a hard time trying to get them to understand. 

"Angel, what's going on… how could you bring that murderer here?" Cloud asked furiously.

"Cloud, Jenova's influence is gone. Didn't you see what he did to Jenova?" Angel asked.

"It's alright sis, they don't have to understand. All they should know is that when I catch Jenova, she'll be sorry she ever manipulated me." Sephiroth said turning away "I can do that alone"

"Oh no you don't!" Aeris pushed past Cloud "You owe me, for what Jenova made you do. There's no way you'll be able to stop Jenova yourself"

Sephiroth looked at Aeris and sighed, "You're right. I do owe you. Fine, I'll stay."

"You're kiddin' me? There's no way I'm lettin' that %$^$%^$^ have free run over the Highwind!" Cid exclaimed. At that, the rest of Avalanche started to protest at the idea of Sephiroth in Avalanche, only Red and Vincent stayed silent. Red because he had seen how people could do the right thing when they were given a chance and Vincent, because he'd once been a hired killer for Shin-ra.

"How'd we know he won't go crazy again, or that he's faking believing you Angel?" Cloud asked, suddenly turning on her.

Sephiroth interrupted "Cloud, my sister has never lied to me before. I trust her. Even if had been lying, I would never go back to Jenova."

Cloud looked sceptical "Really?"

"Look, it's getting late" Aeris interrupted the argument. "I suggest we go somewhere where we can talk this over. Cosmo Canyon is only a few minutes away. We can talk round the Cosmo Candle, once everyone's tempers have cooled down!" 

********************* 

The Highwind landed as near to Cosmo Canyon as it could, which still left a short walk for the members of the expanded Avalanche. As they approached the town, some of the elders walked down the steps and were about to refuse entry to Sephiroth and Angel. Once Red had explained what had been going on, the elders let them in, grudgingly.

Later that evening they were sitting around the eternal flame as Angel told them the entire story of what she had found in Hojos' private library and what had resulted. She also told them of what happened when she had woken from her sleep and how she had managed to get Clouds' Chocobo from the farm.

"So what's that gotta do with trusting him?" Yuffie asked, pointing to Sephiroth and glaring at him.

"I don't know what I did, but I broke Jenova's mind influence. That was the main reason why Sephiroth was doing what he did." Angel replied.

"I've no excuse for my actions Yuffie, but I would like it if you didn't keep glaring at me like that" Sephiroth told the girl. "I still can't believe that twisted *%^£"$ is our father, Angel."

Angel smiled "I know, but Vincent here knows more about our true mother. Will you tell us about her Vincent?"

Vincent looked at Angel startled "How'd you know that?" 

"Aeris told me you knew her" Angel replied gently.

Vincent nodded and told them of Lucrecia and what she had been like, before she died. He also told them of what Hojo had said to him about the project.

Once all the past stories had been told, Sephiroth looked over at Cloud and Tifa "I should apologise to both of you, almost as much as I should apologise to Aeris. I almost killed both of you in Nibelhiem when Jenova first took over my mind. I know it won't make you trust me, but both of you should know how sorry I am for what I've done."

"I don't suppose I'll ever trust you Sephiroth, but for now, we'll call a truce. Maybe, one day I may become friends, but that'll be a long way off, I still can't forgive you for what you did to all those innocent people" Cloud replied.

Tifa looked at the fire "I may never trust you Sephiroth, but it's time to put the past behind us." She looked at Cloud and Barret. "We did some things that killed innocent people, blowing up the reactors in Midgar, and it was our presence in sector 7 that provoked Shin-ra into dropping the plate. We killed almost as many as Sephiroth did, for all we said it was for the planet"

"But.." Barret almost protested, then saw Tifa's point.

"And it isn't entirely your fault about the plate either. I pressed the button to execute it. Reeve couldn't prevent the destruction by swaying president Shin-ra, and all of the Turks have killed those that Shin-ra wanted out of the way." Reno said, whilst Rude and Elena looked at him startled. The Turks never admitted that they were wrong, but here Reno was, admitting that they were also to blame.

"Enough of this depressing talk" Cid interrupted "I still don't believe Sephiroth is on our side, but if two Cetra are vouching for him, well" he stopped unsure of what to say.

"That brings me to a question Sis, you used a Cetra spell, and now Cid says there's two Cetra here…. What's going on?" Sephiroth asked, the look in his eyes clearly puzzled.

Angel went red and didn't answer.

"When she brought me back using Holy, the planet changed her. She's Cetra now" Aeris grinned, then she turned to Cloud "and the Planet has been telling me something, Cloud. Angel won't know this.. but you three are related."

"WHAT!" Angel, Cloud and Sephiroth exclaimed.

"I know me and Seph are twins.. but where does Cloud come into it?" Angel asked, wondering why the planet hadn't told her.

"It seems Hojo is Cloud's father as well… I don't know why the planet has chosen to tell me, maybe it'll stop all this argument about trust and blame." Aeris replied.

_"Trust is for fools, power is all that matters. Nothing will stop me from destroying this planet, not you and not Sephiroth."_ Jenova appeared beyond the fire, power flowing round her like a robe as she called some of her more powerful spells.

The effect of Jenova's appearance was immediate; everyone grabbed their weapons and magic that they had left next to them and faced Jenova.

"This ends now Jenova!" Vincent went for Jenova, turning into Chaos as his anger became uncontrollable. 

Yuffie and Tifa immediately started to cast elemental spells to slow Jenova down, whilst Vincent, Cid, Red and Cloud attacked. Reeve and Barret stayed further away from the melee battle as their guns were long range weapons and took shots whenever they could see an opening. 

Sephiroth, noticing that the Turks were trying to sneak round the back of Jenova, cast defensive spells on the more forward fighters before attacking himself. Then Jenova slammed one of her tentacles into Tifa, almost sending her flying if it wasn't for Yuffie catching her. Angel saw this and instead of using her Holy Strike limit she cast healing spells on Tifa. Aeris however knew that she had to do something, Jenova was still standing over the combined barrage of all twelve of her friends, nothing seemed to be affecting her. The Turks weren't causing much damage, even though they had succeeded in surrounding Jenova, and they were in serious danger of a powerful spell going their way. 

Aeris acted and called out the name of her newest Limit spell. Everyone heard her voice as Aeris yelled "Heavens Judgement!" Aeris' staff hit Jenova three times. Each time the staff hit, it did more and more damage until the fourth strike which was powered by Holy. This strike made Jenova scream in pain as she couldn't stand up to the power of the Planet.

Jenova could see that the battle was going badly for her and the mortal she had once controlled was now irrevocably turned against her. Furious she called out a powerful spell "Dark destruction"

Balls of black, evil energy appeared and struck the entire group, except for the Turks who were still behind her. As Reno continued to attack, Elena and Rude started to call out healing spells. Angel however had managed to recover slightly and called out her healing limit spell "Great Gospel" which completely healed everyone and put indestructible shields up around all the members of Avalanche, including the Turks.

With the shields in place, they knew that they could beat Jenova, and started to flank her sides, resulting in her being surrounded. Jenova knew that the battle was lost at this point and began to float above the battlefield, out of range of most of the weapons _"You pathetic mortals will not stop me again. The next time we meet you'll know that to cross Jenova-Infinity means death!"_ Jenova told them as she vanished. 


	7. Meteor

**

Sephiroth's Sister

**

Chapter 6 - Meteor

"Well, what're we waitin' for?" Barret asked "Lets chase that $%^*£" Jenova down, and get rid of her!"

"Slow down Barret, we're all exhausted from that battle, we need rest. We'll start tomorrow!" Cloud replied.

"I'll stay on watch" Sephiroth replied "If she decides to come back when we're all asleep.."

"I'll take second watch then, there's no way you're staying up all night Sephiroth, we may need you tomorrow to fight." Angel said as she looked at the group "anyone disagree?"

"No, but I'll take third watch" Red said "That way we all get some sleep"

Cloud shook his head, as he watched Sephiroth head up towards the top of the canyon, on a sudden thought he decided to follow him. He needed to talk to Sephiroth, without everyone else around, especially not Aeris and Angel.

He waited until everyone else had gone indoors before turning to climb the stairs leading to the observatory. Sephiroth noticed Cloud was following him and stopped to wait.

"Something wrong Cloud?" Sephiroth asked mildly once Cloud had caught up with him.

"I'm not sure, how can we be certain that you won't go crazy again?" Cloud asked, "Aeris may say that, but I'm responsible for the safety of all Avalanche!"

"I see you've grown from that insecure boy into a warrior" Sephiroth replied "To answer your question, I'm not certain, anymore than you are. Whatever my sister did, it freed me, and after everything I've been told, there's no way I'd willingly become Jenova's slave again."

"I see" Cloud turned away "I accept the apology you made earlier, but remember, I'm still keeping my eye on you" he said as he began to walk away.

"You know, if you want, you can join mine and Angel's sparring practices. We have some fighting skills that you may want to learn." Sephiroth replied thoughtfully. "And if it's any consolation to you, I despised our father." 

"I can't believe he's my father as well, I can't believe that I'm related to you!" Cloud replied "is that why you managed to manipulate me so well?"

"Yes, although I wondered that myself, normally it would be impossible to do that to someone, I doubt I would've been able to turn my sister, although she managed to help me" Sephiroth began, then decided to change the subject "Enough of such depressing talk, so how about the sparring?"

Cloud smiled slightly "Sure, may as well. Although I don't know what you two can teach me that I don't already know"

"How about dodging and reflecting magic attacks back onto the caster, without using haste spells, reflect spells or barrier spells?" Sephiroth grinned. "That's the highest level of Soldier training, not even Zack managed to do it, but I think you'd be able to."

"Flattery now, Sephiroth?" Cloud asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"No, I've seen you fight, you've beaten me twice now. I think you'd be able to surpass what you already know." Sephiroth assured him then he paused "Something's just crossed my mind. Angel and Aeris probably think we're going to be fighting and arguing for months."

"True, for the sake of Avalanche, I'll restrain myself" Cloud laughed, reassured that Sephiroth really was on their side.

Back in the inn Reeve called the Turks to him "I want all the information on the Jenova project brought here. I'll pay you of course, but I want it here by tomorrow morning" he told them.

"That's a long way to go to get some papers Reeve, why'd you want them?" Reno asked.

"They may give us a clue on how to destroy Jenova fully." Reeve replied.

"Alright, but I don't know if we can get back for tomorrow morning." Rude said, thinking it through.

"You don't have to" Cid leaned on the doorway "I've just found a fault in the Highwind; it'll take me the better part of the day to fix it!" 

********************* 

"So what's the problem Cid?" Cloud asked when he saw that Cid was getting some spares for the Highwind.

"A couple of broken parts in the engine. We strained em when we were chasing Angel." Cid replied as he headed out to the ship.

"How long is it going to be before we can go?" Vincent asked walking up to them.

"Damn it Vincent, do you have to sneak up on me like that??" Cid jumped and turned on Vincent "Most of the morning at least. The damage isn't critical, but experience has taught me to be careful." Cid avoided mentioning that it was only because of Shera, that he was so careful now. Her intuition on the Rocket had been the only thing that had saved their lives.

A few minutes later, Red came down from the observatory where he had taken the last part of the watch. "Well it was all quiet last night. I think we hurt Jenova more than we thought" he said. "Where are the others?" 

"Sephiroth and Angel were sparring earlier, but I think they've finished. The other girls are already in the dining room. I saw Reeve heading to the library, and I think Barret is still asleep." Cloud replied.

"I'll go and wake Barret up then" Red said walking off, he almost ran into Sephiroth as he came out of the building.

"What's up with you?" Cloud called over.

"Nothing, I was coming to see when we're leaving" Sephiroth replied. "if you must know that girls are talking about womens stuff. It gets very boring"

Cloud snorted in amusement, Cid and Vincent tried not to laugh as Cloud's PHS started to ring. "Hang on guys, I have to answer this."

"What emergency now, I wonder" Vincent asked as Cloud accepted the call.

"Hello, who is this?" Cloud asked.

"Cloud, it's Elmyra. I need your help. Barret left Marlene in my care, but this … thing .. came and took her away" Elmyra said, Cloud could tell she was trying not to cry. "It almost destroyed this part of the town."

"What! We'll be there as soon as we can." Cloud shut the phone down and looked at Cid "you'll have to repair the Highwind as we go. We've got to got to Corel, Marlene's been kidnapped. Elmyra is distraught. Seph, you get the girls. Vincent, you get Reeve."

Sephiroth looked at Cloud strangely for a second before jogging off back to where he had left the girls. He didn't like anyone shortening his name; he only tolerated Angel doing that because she was his twin and she had been calling him that for years during sparring matches because it was faster to say. He also wondered why he was the one following orders instead of giving them, then he realised that Cloud was the one everyone respected. He was the outcast. As he made his way from where Cloud and Cid were, he noticed that Red and Barret were walking towards them. As he was about to enter the buildings her could hear Barret swearing and yelling Marlene. 

********************* 

At the table in the dining area of Cosmo inn, the four girls were laughing with each other, especially after they had managed to get Sephiroth embarrassed with their talking.

"Thanks for lending me your materia last night Yuffie" Angel told the girl as she brought over some drinks.

"No problem, I was worried you wanted to keep them though" Yuffie replied.

"Why would I do that? I don't need Materia, not now anyway." Angel smiled slightly puzzled.

"You learnt all of it?" Tifa asked astonished.

"When did you find the time?" Aeris asked "I've not seen you learn it… I know it takes a few minutes with each one.."

"When I was on watch last night, it was the best time to learn it, in case Jenova showed up" Angel replied with a slight yawn. "I hate second watch of three."

The others laughed.

"I wish I could learn Materia like that though" Yuffie commented, making both Tifa and Aeris laugh. Angel just looked puzzled when Yuffie glared at the other two.

"What's so funny?" Angel asked once Tifa had calmed down.

"Yuffie likes to steal other people's materia, that's what" Tifa replied, still giggling.

"It's not funny" Yuffie glared as Angel began to giggle as well. "Fine, be that way" she began to sulk.

"Oh Yuffie, you should see your face!" Aeris laughed.

Yuffie walked over to the window and looked out feeling very annoyed, she watched the men talking in the distance. It seemed that Sephiroth was heading back their way "Very funny, Aeris. Sephiroth's on his way back. He's in a hurry…."

"Wonder why?" Angel wondered "Only reason he'd hurry if there was something wrong."

"We'd better get ready just in case then" Aeris replied as Tifa reached down to pick something up "I forgot to tell you Angel, Red found these three left over accessories that you can use" Tifa said as she threw a tetra elemental bracelet, a circlet and a ribbon towards Angel. 

Angel caught them and looked at the three items; she put the tetra elemental bracelet on her wrist, and saw that others were also putting on circlets, to increase their magic power. She did the same wondering how she looked with it on. Then she tied the ribbon round her ankle so then it didn't get in her way. 

"Why don't you put the ribbon in your hair like we do?" Yuffie asked curiously "I've seen both Cloud and Barret do that, as well as Cid, but they're men"

Angel stood up and checked her weapon, as she put the Holy materia in the one slot on it, to keep it from being taken from her in battle "I don't like tying my hair back" she replied offhandedly "Sephiroth pointed out the disadvantage of it as well when I was learning, he managed to pull one out of my hair during a sparring match"

As they were about to head out to where the men were gathering Sephiroth strode into the building "We've got to get to the Highwind, a girl called Marlene has been taken by Jenova" Sephiroth began "We're heading to Corel to see if we can find any clues."

"Marlene's been kidnapped???" Aeris looked horrified, so did Tifa and Yuffie "We're coming now"

All five of them left the building and ran towards the Highwind at full speed, they could see Vincent and Reeve ahead of them, and they could also see that the rest of the group were already at the Highwind. They could hear Barrets' cursing even from this distance.

"One thing I don't get" Sephiroth said, "Why is Barret so upset, who is Marlene?"

"I'd like to know that as well" Angel began.

"Marlene is Barrets' daughter" Tifa said as she ran "I don't know how Jenova knew that"

"Jenova can read people's minds, I thought you knew that" Sephiroth replied as he kept pace with the three slower people, Angel was already a few meters ahead of them. "This is an ideal way for her to get revenge, by hurting those you love."

"Hurry up!" Cloud yelled to them from the Highwinds' deck "We move out as soon as you get up here!" 

********************* 

At Costa Del Sol, Reno was sitting at the bar drinking. The Turks had got to the seaside resort late last night, and now they were here, he had decided to have a short break. Reno watched as Elena paced around the room, fustrated at their lack of work. He decided that Elena really needed to find some way of relaxing. He had sent Rude off on an errand a few minutes earlier, one which Rude understood. They had worked together for years and Reno knew that Rude already knew what Reno was up to. He turned his attention back to Elena, who had had enough of pacing and was heading back his way.

"Reno, what are we doing waiting around here? I thought we were supposed to go to Kalm?" she asked finally voicing the frustration she felt at their inactivity. 

"Calm down Elena, I've already arranged for the documents to be shipped here" Came Renos' reply "I rang some of the staff last night. They put them on the ship this morning."

"Oh" Elena turned away as Rude came in with a set of papers "Mission accomplished" he said setting down the papers on the table and sitting down. 

"Why don't you have a drink, before we set off back to Cosmo canyon, Rude" Reno said holding out his glass for more. The bartender filled the glass and handed Rude and Elena a glass full of cheap beer. 

"I've tasted better than this rubbish" Reno apologised to his friends "But this is all they have here."

"I don't believe you two" Elena said, pushing the drink she'd been given across the table "We're supposed to get back to Cosmo, they need this stuff." 

"I've hired a buggy Elena. Cid said he had some repairs to do on the Highwind and wouldn't be finished til later today, so we have plenty of time." Rude said taking a drink and wincing. "You weren't kidding when you said this stuff was rubbish."

Elena looked at Rude and Reno "Alright, I just thought…"

"Elena, we get the job done for the deadline, not before it" Reno told her "Now settle down, I want to relax before we stick our necks out for Cloud and his group."

Elena calmed down slightly as Reno had asked her to, but she felt uneasy relaxing when they were on a job, it didn't seem right. She was spared more restlessness when Renos' PHS started to ring.

"Damn, just when you thought it was safe to relax" he commented sarcastically as he ignored the ringing phone and took a sip of his beer.

"Reno, you're such a jerk at times, it could be important" Elena said in annoyance as she snatched the phone away from him and keyed in the accept code. "Hello, Elena here" she said. 

"Elena! Why do you have Reno's phone?" Reeve began, then changed his mind "Don't answer that. We need you to meet us in Corel; Barret's daughter has been kidnapped by Jenova. Do you have the information I asked you to get?"

"Yessir, we have the files you wanted. We're at Costa Del Sol, we can be there in an hour. " Elena reported.

"Tell him where we are, why don't you?" Reno muttered sarcastically. Elena glared at him, which shut him up rapidly, Elena only turned this serious if there was an emergency.

"Fine, get here now, and tell Reno to get his face out of whatever he's drinking! We need him sober." Reeve ended the call.

Elena closed the PHS slowly and looked at the two men "We have a problem" she started as she tol them what Reeve had just told her. 

"This time the Turks stand by Avalanche" Reno told them after he had listened to what Elena had to say "I don't like people who kidnap children, let's go" 

Within seconds all three of them were out of the pub and heading towards the buggy that Rude had hired earlier. 

********************* 

Far to the north, in the Northern crater which Jenova had created when she had first crashed on this Planet, Jenova materialised holding Marlene in one tentacle. She placed the girl placed her in a small cave towards the back of the cavern, where very few people would be able to find. She knew that her adversaries would find the girl, she had planned it so then she could lure them into an ambush. 

_"You are the one which will bring me my revenge" _Jenova said to the young girl, who was cowering in the back of the cave. 

Marlene remembered what her father had told her after the Planet had been saved. "Daddy and Uncle Cloud will stop you" Marlene said defiantly "And Aunt Tifa and Red"

_"I do not think so, Brat"_ Jenova said getting irritated with the girl, she wasn't used to anyone standing up to her, at least not anyone so young. Then she noticed something glowing in the shadows of the crater, the glow was strange, it was a dark glow. Then she realised what it was as she glided over to it and picked up the small orb. _"The Black Materia"_ she exulted holding the materia. Jenova thought it would take her ages to find it. Now that she had it, her plans could begin immediately and that would mean less chance of her plans being interrupted by that annoying group. Holding the Black Materia above her head she chanted words in her own language, which would unleash the spell. She finished the chant with the four fatal key words _"METEOR! DESTROY THIS PLANET" _

********************* 

The sky was lit by a column of bright light that came from the North crater. The light could be seen by everyone in the northern hemisphere of the Planet, it was a strange colour. On the Highwind Reeve, Barret, Cloud, Sephiroth and Vincent were on the deck, looking for any signs of Jenova as the airship sped towards Coral.

" HOLY SHIT!!!, what's that ?" Reeve stared at the light, until he had to turn away from it's brilliance. 

"I dunno, but I don't like the look of it" Cloud replied, slightly worried.

"How long until we reach Corel?" Barret asked getting impatient, the light could wait. He was more worried about Marlene.

"Cid said five minutes" Vincent replied "I wonder what caused the light, it doesn't feel right to me"

"How can you be so calm, Jenova has Marlene, you cold blooded Vampire!" Barret told Vincent, which earned him a very dark look.

"Barret calm down" Cloud said "We'll get Marlene back, alive ok?"

"Jenova won't harm her, she's using the girl as bait for us" Sephiroth said looking north, his hand straying to the hilt of his sword. "I don't like the look of that light there's something familiar about it" he continued as the light faded.

"Familiar, how?" Vincent asked quickly. 

Before Sephiroth could answer Tifa ran onto the Highwinds deck, she looked very worried. "Cloud, Sephiroth come quick, there is something wrong with Aeris and Angel" She stopped as the two men looked at each other "They just collapsed for no reason"

"The light?" Reeve asked, thinking about the timing as Cloud, Sephiroth and Tifa ran into the main corridor of the Highwind, startling Yuffie, who had been meditating again. Yuffie followed them as they ran past her. When they entered the bridge they could see that Aeris was still unconscious, but Angel was attempting to rise to her feet, using her staff as a support. Red was checking Aeris as Cid was making sure Angel was alright. 

"Angel what happened" Cid asked "One minute you two were standing there, the next both of you were on the floor"

"The Planet's frightened. It called out in such fear that it overwhelmed us both." Angel replied unsteadily, still shaking her head, trying to clear it. Barret, Reeve and Vincent entered the room as she said it.

"Why?" Sephiroth asked as he cast a powerful healing spell on Aeris.

Angel paused as she listened to the Planet in her mind, every so often she winced "Jenova has used the Black Materia" she eventually replied, as Aeris began to wake. Cloud and Tifa went to help her stand up.

"I'm gonna regret askin' but what for?" Yuffie asked looking at Angel, dreading the answer.

It wasn't Angel who answered as Aeris replied quietly "Jenova has summoned Meteor!" In the startled silence that followed she added "and it's bigger and faster than the one Sephiroth called. We have a day at the most before it hits" 


	8. Preparations

**

Sephiroth's Sister

**

Chapter 7 - Preparations

The Highwind landed outside Corel half an hour after it had left Cosmo Canyon, Barret was the first one off the airship almost climbing down the ladder before the airship had landed. Once he was on the ground he ran towards his house where Elmyra looked after his daughter. Tifa, Cid, and Aeris followed him, Tifa and Cid so then they could help Elmyra calm down, Aeris so then she could be reunited with her adopted mother. Cloud waited at the bottom of the ladder for the rest of the group to disembark, even though he wanted to hurry to the house as well to find out everything about the abduction. "Yuffie, I want you and Reeve to stay here, Elmyra doesn't really know you two and we want to calm her down. Angel, Sephiroth you're staying cause I don't want to scare her. She already thinks that you're evil Sephiroth, even though we know you've reformed, she doesn't. Red, when the Turks show up I want you to tell them what happened and go through the files they're bringing. We'll be back as soon as we can." Cloud ordered, entering the village. 

"That's just great" Yuffie moaned "Waiting for that bunch of losers" She brought out her shuriken and started to practice throwing it and catching it, it gave her something to do other that think of waiting. 

"I heard that!" Reno said from behind the Highwind, "You didn't notice that we've been here for five minutes at least. Some ninja you are."

Yuffie turned round and went glared at him. She was about to retort when Red stepped between them both. "That's enough" Red said "We're allies in this. Reno do you have the files?"

Reno moved away from Yuffie, that kid was going to get it one of these days he thought as he handed the files over to Reeve. "Yes, but I don't see what help they're going to be."

"I know some things about Jenova, I'll be able to see if anything Hojo wrote was accurate" Sephiroth said as he walked past Elena. Elena moved well out of his way, still slightly scared of the tall warrior.

Further round the Highwind Angel stood looking up at Meteor which was now clearly visible. She could see it was getting closer by the second, she sighed and began listening to the others arguing about what was in the files. All of them were trying to find some weakness of Jenova, but none of them were considering how to stop Meteor. She wondered how they were going to stop it, she knew that Holy and the Lifestream had destroyed the last one, but that was only because Aeris had sacrificed herself. Angel knew that that she wouldn't allow that to happen again. Then she felt something calling her, after puzzling over it for a few seconds, she realised that the Holy Materia was glowing, as she held it she could feel the warmth coming from it. 

_* Angel, you must use Holy to stop Meteor before you confront Jenova *_ the Planet said inside her mind. Angel almost dropped the Materia in shock. "How?" she asked silently.

_*You will know when you get to Midgar, there is a Chocobo not to far away, use that to get to the shore then fly to Midgar. Holy will show you what to do*_ came the response.

Angel knew that Meteor had to be destroyed first. That way it wouldn't become a problem when they stopped Jenova. She silently left the place she had been standing and made her way over to a low ridge, where she could circle round and find the Chocobo, without her brother or friends knowing she had gone.

After a few minutes Reeve called out "Hey Angel, what's your opinion of this?" trying to get her into the discussion, but when he got no answer he frowned and began looking round where he had last seen her "Where's your sister?" he asked Sephiroth "I can't seem to find her"

Sephiroth looked at Reeve and started to look for signs of any sort of fight that they may not have heard. "I've no idea; she was here a minute ago…" He replied. 

Red followed the Angel's scent until he found the Chocobo track. Knowing he'd never be able to track the Chocobo he went back to the small group "She's gone, on Chocobo… That's as far as I could follow" 

********************* 

"Aeris, you're alive?" Elmyra stared at Aeris in wonder "I was told Sephiroth killed you?" she walked up to Aeris and hugged her, tears running down her face. Aeris returned the hug as the others went red.

"Yes mom, I was killed, but things have happened, Sephiroth's sister, Angel restored me to life" Aeris replied. "It's a long tale, and we don't have time, we need to help Marlene. How did Jenova take her?"

"Cloud sit down" Elmyra said to Cloud, who had been pacing up and down the room "It happened when I turned my back for a minute; Marlene was playing out the back on her own when I heard a scream. A horrible creature had appeared in the garden and picked her up in one of its tentacles. I ran outside but it was to late, the creature. . . . . and Marlene had vanished" she explained breaking down into tears as Tifa moved to comfort her.

" Elmyra, there ain't nothin you could have done" Barret said, "At least she didn't harm you" 

"Elmyra, did Jenova say anything?" Cid asked, "It might help us find Marlene faster"

"No, she just looked at Marlene and took her"

Aeris looked up towards Barret "We will get her back, don't worry." She said "Sephiroth told us that Jenova probably wouldn't harm her, that she was bait for us"

Elmyra looked at her in amazement "Sephiroth's still alive?"

Cloud looked away, and Cid walked out of the room not looking Elmyra in the eye. Tifa edged away from the woman, knowing that what she was about to hear might upset her a little "I'll leave you to explain that Aeris" she said.

Barret agreed as Aeris looked at her adopted mother "Yes, Sephiroth's still alive"

"How, why?? Did the one who brought you back, bring him as well" Elmyra demanded outraged.

"No, Angel brought me back, and only just stopped me from being impaled by Sephiroth again, that's how we found out he was still alive. Sephiroth though, he's on our side now…"

"What, that.. murderer… how could you trust him?" Elmyra asked, highly distressed.

"It wasn't entirely our idea" Cloud replied "His sister broke Jenova's hold, and before you ask.. yes I trust her."

Without warning Yuffie entered the room and stopped, she was breathless from running from the Highwind. Sephiroth entered just after her, after he had checked up on Red's findings.

"Cloud, we have a small problem" Sephiroth stated ignoring the look Elmyra gave him. "My sister has run off, I'm not sure why!"

" What is he doing here?" Elmyra hissed in fury. "I won't have that murderer anywhere near my girl again"

Sephiroth looked at Elmyra "I don't know if you'll ever forgive me what I've done at the will of Jenova, but I hope you'll take Aeris' word that I'm doing everything I can to destroy her!" 

"Mom, please, Sephiroth's helping us" Aeris replied at the same time as Sephiroth attempted to explain.

"I don't care.. I want him out of my house… now!" Elymra continued to glare at him.

Sephiroth sighed, "Fine, I'll be outside. Cloud, we have to hurry. I don't know what my sister's up to now"

"Let's hope she hasn't been seduded by Jenova!" Tifa replied as she walked out of the house with Sephiroth.

"She hasn't. She's gone to destroy Meteor. There was a choice between me doing that and her. Angel refused to let me." Aeris said as they all followed.

"WHAT!" everyone looked at Aeris in horror.

"She'll be killed!" Sephiroth looked very worried.

"No, she's found another way.. She's gone to Midgar to destroy Meteor with Holy, I didn't say she was going to do it the same way I did" Aeris corrected.

"She could've waited, lets move out!" Cloud led them all to the Highwind at a dead run. 

********************* 

Angel looked down from the cliff she had landed on. The Chocobo had done well to get her to Costa Del Sol, but it wasn't a Gold one, the poor creature wouldn't have been able to cross the ocean. She had made the second part of her journey by flying, and revelling in the freedom of being able to travel in the air. However once she reached Midgar, she could see the ruins of the city below her; above she could see the glaring Meteor. She knew there was only a few hours left before it would hit.

"Angel, what in &^%&^%$&^ are you doing" Cid called from the deck of the Highwind, once they had all returned to the Airship, they had followed Angel. When they had neared Midgar, they had caught sight of her flying towards it, and had cranked the airship past it's normal top speed to catch up to her. Next to him the rest of Avalanche and the Turks watched wondering what she was up to. Only Aeris watched unconcerned. "Be careful Angel, if Jenova senses what you are doing she'll retaliate." she told her. 

Angel looked back towards the Highwind "I know Aeris! If I do this right though, it'll buy us some time" She called back "Keep the Highwind at a distance, I know what the Planet needs of me" Angel concentrated on Holy keeping an eye on the ship, to make sure she wouldn't catch it in what she was about to do. Once she judged the Highwind to be far enough away, she flew higher than she normally would. Cloud watched as her wings seemed to lock their position.

"In the name of Holy, shine your light, dispel all shadows and destroy Meteor" Angel called as the entire world turned white for her. All of Avalanche could see the white pulse of energy that leapt from Angel's hands. Once their eyes cleared they saw Angel send a beam of white energy directly at the Meteor, but it seemed that nothing was happening. Then Cloud noticed a faint green light emerge from the ground as the Lifestream answered the call as well. Without warning a huge blast of the Lifestream connected to Angel and combined with the Holy that she had called. The combination was strong enough to shatter Meteor into billions of tiny fragments, which would do no damage to the Planet. 

"How??" Reeve exclaimed in awe as silence reigned, no-one could believe the force that Angel had just unleashed as the Lifestream returned to the Planet and Holy faded. 

"Look!" Reno exclaimed as he saw Angel's wings fold and her plunge to the ground. Sephiroth had also seen this, and acted. He glided down and caught his sister before she could hit the rocks below. He could see that she was out cold, and hurried to get her back to the Highwind. 

********************* 

"No use I can't wake her" Tifa told the group. "She's in a coma and I don't know how to snap her out of it. I don't know why she isn't responding to the healing Materia" 

"She used most of her strength to destroy Meteor, she'll recover eventually, but we can't wait. If we do.. Jenova will retaliate for the destruction of Meteor." Aeris said.

"But what about my Sister? Isn't there anything we can do?" Sephiroth asked.

"No, she needs rest. We'll have to stop Jenova without her." Aeris replied "No-one has ever been able to call upon Holy and the Lifestream whilst they were still alive. That's why I had to die, before, to save the planet. Angel is the only one who's ever stayed alive. I wish I knew how it'll affect her, it could be she'll be out for a few months.. who knows. The Planet doesn't know either." Aeris was worried as she watched everyone walk towards the control room. "I'll stay with her until we get to the crater"

"What made her do a stupid &^$%& thing like that?" Cid asked as everyone else sat down in the control room.

"Like Aeris the planet talks to her, I know that for Jenova to be destroyed the Black Materia has to be destroyed first." Sephiroth said. "From the reports I saw on the Jenova project, Hojo noticed that nothing could harm Jenova, so I assume that the Materia is the key to destroying her."

"What does that mean" Cloud asked "If the Black Materia was destroyed Meteor would vanish, wouldn't it?"

" No" Red replied " I understand, Meteor would blow up, destroying the planet in the process, because it's linked to the Materia. Angel prevented that possibility by using Holy before Meteor could get close enough." 

Reeve scratched his head "We should be thankful for miracles then" he said.

" North crater ahead" One of the crewmembers entered the room.

"Alright, let's take her right in!" Cid told him as he got up "I'm goin' to pilot us in" 

"Ok Cid" Cloud replied "We'll make plans"

The Highwind entered the Crater and began to descend slowly, so it would not collide with the walls, after the last eruption of Holy, the crater had been made larger, but the Highwind still could only just fit. Once it had landed the Turks got out first with Cloud and Sephiroth behind them closely followed by the rest of the group. Cid, Barret and Vincent walked towards an opening in the wall that looked to lead deeper into the crater. She silvery walls didn't help much, as they constantly reflected light back towards them and distorted the vision of everyone.

"I don't like the look of this place" Reeve said behind them. "It's too quiet"

"Stop tryin to jinx us" Barret said nervously looking around. 

"Shush everyone, I thought I heard something" Red said, looking around trying to see what was there and being unsuccessful as the nature of the walls prevented him from seeing what was going on. However he wasn't wrong, as a large dragon appeared from what appeared to be nowhere. In reality the walls had hidden the dragon, and made it look to be an unbroken surface.

" Shit, I told ya that you would jinx us" Barret told Reeve in disgust, aiming at the creature.

" Shut up" Reeve replied raising his gun and shooting the dragon.

" Turk Light" Reno called hitting the dragon with energy from his nightstick as Sephiroth moved in to slash the monster with his sword. The dragon hit him with a very powerful lightning spell which caused Sephiroth to fall back. He lifted a small green Materia orb and yelled "Ultima" which triggered the ultima magic attack. However this attack didn't harm the creature in the slightest. 

"Bolt 3" Aeris called

"Freeze" Red shouted

"Comet" Vincent said

All three spells stuck the creature at the same time as the entire group began to attack. The combination of spells hurt the dragon slightly because, although it had a high defence against magical attack, the three spells working together had broken through.

" This isn't working" Yuffie called out as her magic spell bounced back towards her. Cloud took the rebounded magical attack, pushing Yuffie out of the way. Elena decided that magic wasn't going to be the answer, and started to pummel the dragons hide as Rude healed everyone that it had hurt. Barret began firing when he had a clear shot, but most of the time he helped Rude heal everyone. Cid on the other hand attempted to impale the dragon on his staff. He went flying as the dragon retaliated, sending him crashing into Sephiroth.

"That didn't work" Sephiroth told him as he shielded both of them from a lightning attack. Then there was a strange noise, everyone moved away from the dragon as Tifa began her limit break attack. They knew that to get in her way would result in them getting attacked as well as she went berserk during it. All seven hits of the linked combo attack hit the dragon as Tifa put magic behind her blows as everyone kept out of the way, hoping that this would kill the dragon.

Once Tifa had finished the attack, it became obvious that the dragon was still alive and not inconvenienced with all they had done. Cloud sighed and held up a red materia orb "Ultimate end" he called summoning the 13 knights of the round to attack the creature. Once this attack had ended, the dragon collapsed in a heap, dead.

"Come on before any more show up" Cloud said to them as he ran through a small opening in the wall. Without argument everyone followed him into the chamber beyond. The chamber was a huge dome, in the centre there was a slightly raised platform. They couldn't see anything else, but a small sob could be heard, echoing round the cave.

"Marlene?" Cloud called out hoping that it was her he could hear.

"Uncle Cloud? Daddy?" Marlene's' voice floated around them until Red traced the source of her voice and led them to her.

"Marlene, are ya alright?" Barret attempted to free his child by pulling at the bars of her prison. The bars didn't move.

"Daddy, that nasty thing is here, waiting" Marlene wailed looking up, her eyes were wet with tears.

"Red, keep an eye out for Jenova" Cloud said as he inspected the bars.

"Alright Cloud" Red replied as he walked back out into the main chamber.

Cloud attempted to pull the bars apart with the same luck as Barret. "I can't budge them." he said giving up "These are too strong to bend, maybe hitting then with our swords will work" he continued as he unsheathed his sword. Marlene moved away before Cloud struck the bars with his weapon. He didn't like the results, the sword vibrated in his hand, almost making him drop it. The bars showed no marks from where the sword had hit.

Aeris inspected the bars "I think I can break them" she said as she touched the strange substance. 

"How?" Sephiroth asked watching what was going on, outside the small area they were in. Without warning, the substance under Aeris' hand glowed white and turned into a powder.

"How'd you do that?" Reno asked as Marlene stepped out of her prison.

"Simple, I used Holy. This metal was created by evil, Holy can destroy it" Aeris replied as she looked at the young girl.

"Flower lady? You came back?" Marlene asked as she hugged her father.

"Yes Marlene I did." Aeris replied with a smile.

"INCOMING!" Red yelled from the chamber "Jenova's here!" 

"Damn!" Cloud looked at the Turks in frustration "Will you three get Marlene back to the Highwind whilst we deal with Jenova?"

"Sure thing Cloud, do you want us to return?" Reno asked.

"No, if we don't come back it'll be up to you three to stop Jenova." Cloud replied.

"Ok then, let's get moving" Sephiroth broke up the discussion as he ran past to attack Jenova. 


	9. JenovaInfinity

**

Sephiroth's Sister

**

Chapter 8 - Jenova - Infinity

_"You dare oppose me?"_ Jenova looked at Avalanche and Sephiroth _"You're pathetic Sephiroth. You and your friends don't stand a chance against me."_

"Shut up!!!!" Sephiroth roared flying at Jenova in fury "You manipulated me, you almost destroyed this world through me… you'll pay for all the evil you've caused!" 

Cloud tried to prevent Sephiroth from attacking, but he agreed with what Sephiroth said. He also attacked, trying to keep Jenovas' attention divided between the two of them. Sephiroth noticed Cloud helping him and accepted the help. He had learnt that Cloud was almost, if not better than him in battle. 

" Heavens Judgement!" Aeris voice shattered the noise of battle as she attacked with her Limit, trying to help both Cloud and Sephiroth, who were getting pounded by Jenova.

" Ha, Ha, Ha. It'll take more than that to harm me" Jenova laughed at the efforts against her as she held the Black Materia, creating a shield of darkness around her.

Reeve leapt out of the way top avoid being caught in the energy that had erupted from the Materia. He tried to avoid it but seeing Jenova attack Tifa made him give way to his anger " Megablast!" he called as he raised his gun. A blast of fiery red energy erupted from the gun, hitting the shield. Tifa noticed that the blast managed to penetrate the shield and hurt Jenova slightly. 

Tifa, who had moved out of Reeves way when she knew he was going to unleash his limit, returned to the fight and carried on hitting Jenova with her fists, but after a few hits, she saw that she was not causing any damage and moved back. She thought for a second then called out "Giga flare" summoning the monster known as Bahamut Zero, to attack with its' energy ray. 

"CHAOS" Vincent roared as he turned into the Chaos beast. He repeatedly attacked with his chaos sabre, which Jenova flinched from every time he used it against the barrier, as the barrier weakened every time it hit.

"All Creation" Yuffie yelled using her ultimate limit in the hope of damaging Jenova as she saw the barrier weaken. She hoped that her attack would penetrate the barrier, but it didn't. Jenova laughed and struck out at Barret, who had been using support spells and trying to dispel the barrier without success.

"This isn't working" Red commented to no-one in particular, just as Barret collided with him.

"Stop being such a #&^$* optimist" Cid replied as he took out one of his green materia orbs "Cure 3" he called out as he cast the healing spell on both Red and Barret.

Sephiroth and Cloud fell back, they couldn't get past the barrier and Only Vincent seemed to be weakening it, and then only slightly as Jenova kept renewing it. "We have to destroy the Black Materia then Jenova will be destroyed along with it" Sephiroth said.

"How the hell are we gonna do that?" Barret wanted to know as he picked himself up "We can't get anywhere %^%$&% near her!"

"Beats me" Cloud replied as he healed himself and Sephiroth. So then they could return to the fight.

_"Give up, and I will make your deaths quick and painless" _ Jenova told them _"You'll never destroy me."_

"GO to Hell" Yuffie shouted back as everyone moved to resume the fight. 

********************* 

After escaping from the battle with Marlene, the Turks made sure that the girl was inside the airship, out of the way of danger. They had decided to wait at the bottom of the ladder so then they could re-enter the battle if they were needed to, but the creatures that inhabited the Crater didn't give them an easy time of the wait. As the Turks relaxed against the side of the Highwind, five small creatures attacked them. 

"Why do creatures always want to attack us?" Reno complained, charging up his nightstick. "Ok, lets wipe the floor with them" 

"TURK light" Rude yelled slamming into one of the creatures, which had come too close to him.

"Fire 3" Elena shouted casting her most powerful spell. The fire spell hit all five of the creatures and killed the one that Rude had just hit.

"Two down three to go!" Reno commented killing a second creature by electrocuting it with his nightstick. "These things are wimps"

Elena sniggered and was about to attack one of the creatures, when one she hadn't noticed bit her arm. She felt the poison burn it's way through the wound and she knew that if it weren't cured soon, she would be in trouble. "Damn, Reno, Rude watch out, their bite is poisonous" she called to her friends

"Rude do you have Heal or a remedy?" Reno asked killing the creature that had just bitten Elena, knowing that Elena didn't carry healing materia that often.

"No!" Rude said as he dodged a magic attack by one of the creatures.

On the Highwinds deck, Marlene had been watching the battle below, despite what the Turks had told her. When she saw Elena get hurt and heard Reno calling for the heal materia, she ran back into the Highwind to get the materia that was needed. Cid had bought some low level materia before they had left Cosmo Canyon, and he had stored it in the airship for emergencies. When she returned to the deck, she could see that Reno and Rude had moved to cover Elena, and were defending her against the two creatures. She raised the materia and called out "Poisona!" the only spell that the materia could do at this low growth level. The healing spell removed the poison from Elena in seconds.

"Marlene, get back inside" Reno called up to the girl as he caught the Heal materia that she had thrown to him. Elena got to her feet, slightly unsteady as Rude used curing spells on her to restore her strength. "That's it!" she said as she threw a grenade between the monsters, which killed them both.

"Now what?" Rude asked, wondering if they should go to help Avalanche.

"We wait!" Reno replied, knowing that they had been asked to stay here, until it was clear that Avalanche had either succeeded or failed. 

********************* 

Marlene wandered round the Highwind for a few minutes, wondering what she could do. Even though she was only four, she was highly intelligent, and knew that her dad and his friends were in trouble. She also knew that the Turks wouldn't go to help unless they had to, they were protecting her and the airship. As she passed the room Angel was in, she knew what she could do, she'd try to help the woman who was like Sephiroth. She sat down next to Angel and talked to hers, even though she didn't know if Angel would hear.

"I bet you would help my daddy if you were awake" Angel heard someone say through the fog of deep sleep. She had worn herself out when she had obliterated Meteor and she knew that the others wouldn't have waited until she had woken up to go fight Jenova. As she opened her eyes she could see the blurry image of a young girl and as her eyesight cleared she could see Marlene clearly. The girls words rang through her mind. "You're Barret's daughter??" Angel asked as she got up.

"Yes" Marlene replied.

"What's happening?" 

"Daddy went to fight that creature with Uncle Cloud and Aunt Tifa" Marlene said, "The Turks are outside, looking after me." 

"I've got to help them" Angel said as she picked up her sword. "You're right to stay here Marlene, your dad will be back soon, don't worry." She smiled at the child and bolted out of the room and headed towards the Highwinds deck. Halfway there, she could hear a battle taking place outside the airship. She could hear the Turks calling our spells and she could hear their curses as the spells either didn't work or had the opposite effect. As she got to the rail of the deck, she could see what the Turks were fighting. It was a large dragon, and from what she could see, the Turks weren't having much effect on it. 

"How the hell are we supposed to kill that?" Reno asked as he used his nightstick on the creature. " It took all of us last time to kill one" 

Angel could see that they were seriously outmatched and she knew she had to do something otherwise the Turks would be killed.

" Ultimate end" she shouted after a seconds thought. She used the most powerful summon she had learnt without realising that it was the same one that Cloud had used to kill the last one.

"What the!" Elena looked round as Angel cast the spell, unable to believe that someone else had entered the fight. 

Once the dragon was dead Angel flew down to the ground "We must go to help the others, if we don't hurry then we'll fail." She told them as she ran towards where she could sense Jenova's power. The Turks looked at each other before following her at a run. 

********************* 

"Omnislash!" Cloud yelled as he lost his temper with the barrier that Jenova kept creating. The ultimate limit dissipated the barrier. 

"Supernova!" Sephiroth cast his most powerful summon, that was more of a magical attack, at the same time as Cloud began attacking. The blast hit Jenova just before she managed to recreate the barrier and damaged her severely.

"Damnit!!" Cid cursed seeing the barrier come back up. "How the hell do we destroy her with that barrier?"

"Freeze" Red shouted, almost drowning Cid out. "We have to destroy the materia, that's the only way… she's invulnerable til we get rid of it!"

"Any ideas?" Reeve asked as he continued trying to cast support spells.

"Ultima" Yuffie ignored them all and continued keeping Jenova distracted from the conversation. Vincent was still Chaos but his attacks were getting weaker as he lost strength. Eventually he lost his hold over the chaos beast and reverted back to his normal self. Tifa moved to heal him as Barret covered them both with a hail of bullets from his gun arm.

_"Now you will die!"_ Jenova said maliciously as she created the barrier again. She knew that there was no way they could stop her. The Cetra that they had brought with them wasn't strong enough against her. She wanted to finish this upstart group before she summoned Meteor again. "By the power of the black materia I call DARK HOLY"

Darkness covered the group, and surrounded them in evil energy. Blood red lightning crackled and hit each of the members of the party. When the evil dissipated no one was standing, Aeris had been the worst effected and she was almost unconscious. The rest were struggling to get back up on their feet. Just then the three Turks entered the battle. Reno kept Jenova occupied whilst Rude used magic to heal Avalanche and Elena used items that she had to heal. Once Aeris managed to get on her feet she called out "Great Gospel" to fully restore the entire group, and she created a protective barrier to rival Jenovas' over everyone, including the Turks.

"I thought I told you to stay with the Highwind?" Cloud asked, completely exasperated with the Turks, although he did have to admit, privately, that they had saved their skins. 

"Let's just say we don't take orders well" Reno replied, as everyone got ready for round two of the battle.

Just as Jenova was about to cast dark holy again, the Black Materia was knocked from her hand, Angel had sneaked into the battlefield, whilst Jenova had been distracted. Now she stood between Jenova and where the Black materia had landed, her sword crackled with white lightning, "Do you want to try that again?" she enquired as she moved towards the Black Materia, keeping an eye on Jenova "Aeris I need your help with this." 

Jenova attempted to attack both Cetra, but the Turks, Sephiroth and Avalanche re-engaged the battle, preventing her from getting near them.

Aeris walked over towards the Black Materia and raised her staff, just as Angel raised her sword, white lightning started to play over the surface of the staff. Both weapons glowed with the power of Holy as they came crashing down on the small materia orb.

_"NOOOOO!"_ Jenova screamed as the orb shattered into dust and her barrier faded into nothing. Jenova knew she was vunerable now.

"She can be destroyed now" Aeris shouted to Cloud as Jenova tried to escape.

"That's just what I needed to hear! Omnislash" Cloud replied, unleashing his final limit just as Sephiroth called out "Multislash!" Both men repeatedly hit Jenova with their swords, as everyone else attacked with Ultima and other high-powered spells. Aeris and Angel watched as the two men finished their joint limit and moved out the way just before Red used his Cosmo Memory limit to finish her off.

As the body of Jenova crashed to the ground, the cavern started to tremble and shake. Small rocks bounced from the ceiling and walls as large cracks appeared in the floor.

"We've gotta get outta here" Yuffie panicked as everyone began to run towards the exit. Reeve intercepted her and managed to drag her out of the way of a rock, that was falling towards the cavern exit. Once the dust cleared they could see that the cavern was sealed. There was no way out.

" ^&$&^%$, Lady Luck don't fail me now" Cid prayed as he tried to find a way out of the unstable area without success. Then they noticed that there were strands of green energy twisting around them.

" What is going on?" Cloud asked in confusion " Why is the Lifestream here?"

"No idea, but it won't help if we get killed!" Reno replied.

The Lifestream energy surrounded everyone, just as the cavern completely caved in, enclosing them all in a protective bubble.

_*** Well done ***_ The Planet echoed in their minds. 

Sephiroth looked around as he tried to see who had spoken " Who's that?" he asked baffled.

"It is the Planet, Sephiroth" Angel told him smiling "Looks like the Planet forgives you for what you did."

"It has?" 

Cloud looked at the protective barrier around them, he could see the rocks of the cavern on the outside. He shuddered and hoped that the Planet would help then get out of this trap.

_***I chose you all well, continue on with Protecting the people ***_ The Planet said. The barrier created by the Lifestream became a sheet of energy and the cavern faded from view. Avalanches' perspective shifted and they found themselves standing on the deck of the Highwind.

" How did we get here?" Rude asked looking round in shock.

"The planet transported us here" Aeris said walking towards the main entrance of the Highwind. Once she got to the door, Marlene charged out and ran to her father. Barret picked her up and hugged her promising her that he'd never leave her alone again. 

"Hang on, what'd the planet mean?" Cid asked curiously, as everyone started to walk down towards the bridge. "Why did it say that?"

Angel looked at the puzzled faces of everyone around her and laughed, she knew exactly what the Planet had meant, and she found it amusing. "I'm not explaining Aeris, you do it" she said once she calmed down enough. 

"And I thought you weren't a coward Sis!" Sephiroth grinned at her, he loved to tease Angel "So what did the planet mean?"

"Go ahead Angel" Aeris looked highly amused by the whole thing, "It's your responsibility, remember, you were the one who started this"

"You win Aeris" Angel sighed "The purpose of the Lifestream, was to acknowledge you as Protectors of the Planet, like me and Aeris, all of you are Cetra now" 

Everyone stopped walking and turned to stare at Angel, shocked, and in most cases speechless. Sephiroth didn't believe it and his face clearly showed the disbelief.

"You're joking right?" Reeve asked breaking the silence. "You're playing a prank on us.."

"Nope, it's the truth. We are the new Cetra. Charged with protecting the Planet and maintaining the Lifestream." Aeris said walking away. "Now, Let's go home" 


	10. Epilogue

**

Sephiroth's Sister

**

Epilogue

"I now pronounce you man and wife" The vicar formally pronounced. "You may now kiss the bride" 

Cloud smiled and raised Tifa's veil, in the silence he kissed Tifa, who returned it with equal passion. All of rocket town, and most of the population in the surrounding villages, had turned out for this momentous event. Most of the group was there as well except Reeve and the Turks who had to go back to Kalm to finish helping all those who had been affected by Meteor. Everyone cheered as they saw the kiss and Aeris, holding the train of Tifa's wedding dress smiled. Barret and Cid sat nearby, and argued between each other on how long Cloud and Tifa would be kissing. A thread of the Lifestream rose up between the couple as they finished the kiss.

"That's a sign from the Planet." Aeris told the stunned spectators. Over the last few weeks the people still hadn't accepted the fact that the members of Avalanche were Cetra, and they were still having problems accepting Sephiroth, who sat nearby. 

"The planet blesses this union" Vincent added.

The cheer that went up from the ordinary people almost deafened Avalanche. Cloud looked round "Where's our sister?" he asked Sephiroth, who was looking entirely too innocent for his peace of mind.

"No idea" Sephiroth replied, hiding a smile.

Cloud shook his head and, taking Tifa's hand, walking out of the church saw what Sephiroth had been hiding. High in the sky, fireworks were exploding, they lit up the sky so brightly, it looked like the sky was on fire. Sephiroth walked away, to discover where the fireworks were being set. 

"Angel, I think you're carrying this a bit too far" Sephiroth admonished his sister when he found her. She was holding a lit cord, which she was using to light the fireworks.

"What me?" she replied mischievously bursting into laughter at his stern expression "This is just a happy day. I want people to remember it; it's our brother getting married after all. This will help them remember."

"I think they will remember this wedding for a long time, I know I will" Red commented when Angel and Sephiroth returned to the celebration. He turned to them "What're you two going to do next?"

"I think I'll go and help Reeve. I need to do something to gain people's trust again. By helping the refugees I can do something to compensate for all the death I've caused." Sephiroth told him "And I'll be learning more about the Planet, from your elders."

"What about you Angel?" Red asked, "Have you made plans on where to go?" 

"I haven't" Angel replied, "Kalm's too close to Midgar, and I've missed a lot of time. I don't have anywhere to live now. Shin-ra is all I knew before I woke."

Yuffie overheard the conversation as she walked past. "You can come to live at Wutai" she said, "You'd be welcome there, and my father would love to learn the fighting arts off you."

"Thanks Yuffie, although I'm not sure I want to live in a large town. Not everyone knows about what's just happened, and because I look like my brother, I'll be a target. My presence will cause unrest, something your father doesn't need in his town. Until the word has spread, it'll be hard to live anywhere. Even the people here are wary of me." Angel walked away, wondering about the future, she remembered seeing a high cliff nearby and headed in that direction. She needed to clear her thoughts and that place was perfect for looking at the stars.

"What's up with her?" Cid asked as he watched Angel leave the party.

"She's not sure on what to do next. Sephiroth here does, but she doesn't" Red replied.

"I'd better go and talk to her" Sephiroth began to walk after his sister.

"Sephiroth, she needs time. She'll find a solution, count on it" Cid told him. Then he spotted the new couple, and went over to talk to them. "Congratulations, it took you long enough, didn't it"

"Get lost Cid" Tifa said taking a swipe at him "I don't see you and Shera getting married yet"

Cid turned red and wandered off cursing aloud about loud-mouthed youngsters.

"Tifa!" Sephiroth said coming over "How's my sister-in-law?"

"Huh?" Tifa said in confusion, Cloud hid a smile.

"Cloud is my brother, so that technically makes you my sister-in-law" Sephiroth replied. 

Tifa laughed getting the point that Sephiroth was making. "I'm fine Sephiroth, just very, very, happy"

"Hey, what ya doin' standin around" Barret called over "Let's party" 

********************* 

Angel sat outside Rocket Town later that night, watching the stars from her vantage point on a nearby cliff. She wondered what she could do. Sephiroth had responsibilities now, he was going to help Reeve, but something told her that was not what she should do. Angel couldn't explain it, but the path Sephiroth had chosen didn't feel right for her to follow, which was strange seeing that before she had been lost, they had done the same things. She also didn't want to live in Yuffies' town. That also didn't feel right, it was as if there was something she had to do, but she didn't know what it was.

Angel was so deep in thought that she didn't notice Vincent, who had seen her leave the party, walk up behind her.

"Why did you leave the celebration?" Vincent asked when he reached her.

Angel jumped and turned round. When she saw Vincent, she smiled "I can't sneak away can I?" she smiled. "I needed time to think about what I'm going to do next" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Everyone has somewhere to go, or something to do, but I don't" Angel tried to explain, "I've had offers by both Yuffie and Reeve, but they don't feel right."

"You're welcome in any town" Vincent said misunderstanding what she was saying.

"It's not that, I have a responsibility to protect the planet, but now that the threat is gone, what do I do?" She said turning to face him. "Red has responsibilities to Cosmo canyon, Barret has Marlene, Seph is helping Reeve with the Midgar refugees, Cloud has Tifa. The offers that I've got, don't feel like the path I should take, so I don't have a purpose. " 

"Why don't you live in the Ancient City" Vincent asked "There's a lot of work to be done there, but if it's rebuilt, maybe you could teach people about how to protect the planet."

"But, that's what goes on at Cosmo Canyon" Angel protested.

"Cosmo Canyon studies the Planet and the stars. It holds information about everything. However what you are doing is teaching people about the Cetra, about how the Planet needs to be protected and about how to stop the Jenova if another ever turns up here." Vincent smiled "Cosmo Canyon will help you in the quest for knowledge. They'll know how important it is to have two places to learn and teach. Cosmo canyon can only hold so many people."

"I'll think about it" Angel replied thoughtfully, turning back to look at the stars.

"You do that, and you know I'll help you if you wish me to" 

"Thanks Vincent" Angel said, turning her head to look at Vincent again, but he had already vanished into the night. 

********************* 

The next day Cloud, Tifa and Angel were standing outside of Rocket Town. The other members of Avalanche had gone home earlier that day or in the case of Cid, sleeping off a hangover from the party. Vincent waited further away, on his Gold chocobo, for Angel to leave on her long trip north.

"You won't change your mind?" Cloud asked as he held onto the reins of his Gold chocobo. He'd decided to give the bird to his sister so then she could travel north, without having to wait for Cid to recover.

Angel shook her head "No, I'm going to restore the Ancient city for scholars to visit and learn about the ancients." she answered. "Vincent's going to help me set up before coming back to finish his business" 

"Well, you'll come to visit us sometime?" Tifa enquired. "I don't want to lose contact with a friend"

"Of course I'll come to visit Tifa. You're family now and besides someone has to help Seph train Cloud" Angel said smirking as Cloud glared at her. Tifa laughed at Cloud's expression. 

"Training?" Cloud continued to glare.

"You do want to learn our fighting style don't you?" Angel asked as she mounted the chocobo. "If you need me, you have my PHS number." 

Cloud and Tifa watched as Angel and Vincent rode out of sight. Once they vanished over the horizon Tifa sighed, "Well, at least everything's back to normal now" she said leaning on Cloud.

"Normal?" Cloud asked as he hugged his wife. "Not so normal for me!" he grinned.

"Oh you!" Tifa laughed and kissed her husband. "You know what I mean, we're married at last.. now we can have fun!"

"Sure! Lets go inside" Cloud replied as they walked back into Rocket town, smiling. 

**The end, for now!**


End file.
